Values can be defined as, cultural criterion to differentiate between, good or, bad—moral or, immoral and desirable or undesirable. Things (ideas, objective and behavior) which are most cherished, by individuals within a given society, is called values. Values specify people preferences in a given culture regarding, goals, actions and ideas. They hold shared conception of, what is significant or, insignificant—morally right or, wrong also, what is considered desirable and proper or, bad.
Moreover, Cultural values are intertwined with beliefs. Beliefs are articles of faith, which individuals in a given culture hold to be true. Generally, beliefs are learned and instilled in Individuals through religion. For instance, cow is considered sacred in Hindu religion. Adherents of Hindu religion believe that, cow is like mother, and should be treated like mother. Therefore, slaughtering a cow is prohibited in India. On the other hand, Muslims like to eat cow meat thus, slaughtering cows are not prohibited in Muslim countries. Hence, values vary from society to society. But, values of every society are not necessarily based on religion. For instance, Americans collectively believe in American dream; which means, anyone can become wealthy and successful if, work hard and strives to attain his goal. Wealth is considered important by Americans. For that reason, being wealthy is American social value.
Furthermore, individuals may have personal values, it could be success in education or, success in business or, fitness. On the other hand, social values are collectively shared ideas by the members of a given culture. An individual cannot hold values, which could be in conflict with social values. If, personal values come in conflict with cultural values, “Negative sanctions” (punishment) would be imposed on individuals. For instance, institution of marriage is the most cherished value in Muslim countries. It has written norms for value protection as well as, strict sanctions to prohibit adultery. If an individual commit adultery in Muslim country, he would be severely punished. Therefore, inhabitants of such society may not value premarital sex, to avoid consequences (negative sanctions).
Values are social canons of behavior; for individuals with in a society. It suggests how individuals should behave in a given culture. But, individuals’ do not behave exactly according to cultural values. Sometimes matching up to cultural values may be difficult for individuals. For instance, People generally value good health but, it is difficult for them to quit, smoking and drinking. Monogamy is valued in many cultures yet, spouses engage in infidelity. Equal rights and opportunities are universally cherished but, gender, race and cast discrimination still exists in many societies. Social values represent “Ideal culture” behavioral standards of society; which people would like to follow and measure up to. On the other hand, “Real culture” represents people actual, behavior and way of life in a society. If people live up to ideal culture; there would be no crimes and chaos in the world. In reality many people do not always conform to social values. Which may result in crimes, war and injustice. Therefore, International organizations, welfare organizations, law enforcement agencies, and governments have been established to prevent social problems like poverty, wars, crimes and injustice.
Written by; Khushdil Khan kasi
