Western values (fl. 1946- ) are those moral ideas that many in the West say they value most, like freedom and democracy.
The English word “values” only goes back to 1918. It comes from a sociological model of how society works.
The phrase “Western values” did not catch on till the late 1940s during the Cold War. The US opposed the Soviet Union and world communism. So it played up the values that set it apart from communism, like capitalism, democracy and human rights of a particular sort (freedom of speech and religion, say, rather than equality). Men will not die for rubber, tin and oil, but they will die for “freedom” and “democracy”.

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Source: abagond.wordpress.com

Another on point article by Abagond.