Values and ethics come from several overlapping sources: a person’s experiences and beliefs, the norms of groups and societies, collective decision-making, and professional standards. In IB Digital Society, these sources guide judgments about what is right or wrong, fair or unfair, just or unjust, and proper or improper.
This topic is part of the shared SL and HL syllabus, specifically values and ethics (2.7). Values are principles about what matters, while ethics provides ways to evaluate conduct and decisions. Neither develops in isolation because individuals are influenced by families, cultures, institutions, laws, and digital environments.
| Source | How it develops | Digital Society application |
|---|---|---|
| Personal values | Individual beliefs shaped by experience, upbringing, identity, religion, and reflection | A user may refuse to share another person’s private data, even when sharing is legal. |
| Shared values | Norms accepted within a family, community, culture, or society | A community may expect online discussions to respect privacy and prevent harassment. |
| Collective values | Principles established through group decision-making, public debate, policies, or laws | Data-protection regulations can express society’s collective concern about consent and personal information. |
| Professional ethics | Standards adopted by an occupation or organization, often expressed through a formal code of ethics | Software developers may be required to minimize bias, protect data, and disclose conflicts of interest. |
These sources can conflict. A platform employee’s personal belief in unrestricted expression may clash with professional duties to enforce content-moderation rules. Shared values also vary between communities, so ethical judgments about privacy, surveillance, or artificial intelligence may remain contested.
A common misconception is that ethics and law are identical. An action may be legal but still judged unethical, while professional codes may demand conduct beyond minimum legal requirements.
For an IB exam response, identify the source of the value, explain how it guides human decision-making, and apply it to a specific digital system. For an evaluate or discuss question, compare stakeholder perspectives and weigh competing values rather than presenting one judgment as universally correct.
