The majority of the Filipino people are bound together by common values and religion. Some of these values are strong religious faith, respect for authority, regard for amor proprio (self-esteem) and smooth interpersonal relationships. Respect for authority is based on honor paid to elder members of the family and anyone in the position of power. Filipinos are sensitive to attacks on their own self-esteem and cultivate sensitivity to the self-esteem of others as well. Anything that might hurt another's self-esteem is to be avoided or else one risks terminating the friendship. This pride in esteem helps to maintain harmony in society and in one's particular circle. This pride can also be somewhat insular and gives rise to clannishness and a willingness to sacrifice personal integrity to remain in the good graces of the group.

Social organization is marked primarily by personal alliance systems. Groupings are composed of kin, real and ritual, grantors and recipients of favors, and friends and partners in commercial exchanges. These personal alliance systems are based upon kinship, beginning with the nuclear family. Each person owes support, loyalty, and trust to one's close own and consanguineal relatives. Beyond the nuclear family, Filipinos do not assume the same degree of support, loyalty and trust. Filipinos also extend the circle of social alliances with friends, but the basis for these relationships is strongly rooted in the willingness to help one another. These social alliances may include some eighty or more people, integrated and interwoven into a personal alliance system.