TAS K 1: Hiera rchy of Values in Socie ty

A hierarchy is a formally ranked group of items, people, or ideas. You find hierarchies all the time in the
form of chains of command. For example, a person could explain the hierarchy of power (from least to
greatest) within a school as follows:

students à teachers and secretaries à assistant principal à principal.

The same hierarchy visually represented would look like this:

Principal
Assistant Principal
Teachers and Secretaries
Students
While it’s not necessarily your choice, as students you do have the least amount of power or control over matters
such as punishment, rules, amounts, of homework, and things of that nature. Above students are teachers and
secretaries since those people are often seen as an authority figure due to their age, education, and experience.
Above that group is the assistant principal who is only below on person: the principal.

Now that you hopefully have a better understanding of what hierarchies are all about, here is your task:
Create a hierarchy of values for a perfect society. You will choose the six most important ideas or values
that a society should be built around. You will then rank those six values and put them in the form of a
hierarchy pyramids.

Directions:
1. In a small group, discuss each of the values that are provided for you in the envelope.
2. Decide which six values will “make the cut” and be included in your pyramid.
3. Rank those values from least important to most important.
4. Draw your own six level hierarchy pyramid on a sheet of blank 11 x 17 paper. Write down the six values your
group decided on from least to most important.
5. Lastly, discuss and write down your reasoning for why each value is important and why it is where it is within
your hierarchy off values pyramid. Write the explanations next to each level of the pyramid. Each explanation
should be at least three sentences, and each explanation should provide an example of how that value
is important in society.

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 TASK 1: Hierarchy of Values in Society

Comfort Responsibility

Cooperation Trust

Fairness Safety

Power Freedom

Justice Respect

Understanding Determination

Equality Adaptability

Individuality Innovation

Competitiveness Compassion