The inner dimension of sustainability: Personal and cultural values

Transformation to sustainability has been defined as the fundamental alteration of the nature of a system, once the current conditions become untenable or undesirable. Transformation requires a shift in people's values, referred to as the inner dimension of sustainability, or change from the inside-out. However not clear is what values are and how they differ from beliefs, attitudes and worldviews. The central question addressed in this article is what the role of values is in transformational change towards sustainability. Values have been operationalized in various ways, varying from economic value, motivational values, symbolic values, processes of e-'value'-ation, mediating values, to value systems. Values are not self-standing concepts which can be mapped our analyzed as atomized issues. They are intertwined, context determined, culturally varied and connected to how we see our self and perceive our environment. This paper provides an overview of recent advances in the literature on values, making a distinction between personal values and collective cultural values.