The study of social tension is essential for analyzing the state of society and social conflicts. Based on the generalization of the World Values Survey data, the article analyzes the influence of the structure of the population's value orientations on the level of social tension in countries of various types. The purpose of the article is to identify the relationship between existing value conflicts and social tension. As a methodological basis of the study, Ronald Inglehart's concept is used. This concept explains the nature of the values changes in the transition from the industrial to the post-industrial stage of societies development. The main point of these changes lies in the fact that the values of survival (including the orientation toward materialistic goals) are replaced by values of self-expression (which include an orientation toward post-materialistic goals). The concept of R. Inglehart was confirmed by the results of the World Values Survey (WVS), led by R. Inglehart. The authors determine the indicators of social tension included in the toolkit of the 6th WVS wave conducted in 2010-2014. During the study statistical methods of analysis are using, made with the IBM SPSS Statistics 23,0 data analysis package. For conducting intercountry comparisons, the authors refer to the classification of countries depending on the level of their modernization proposed by N. I. Lapin.