Social Development of Values and Beliefs

Social Development of Values and Beliefs

Values can be described as the general idea of proper and desirable behavior that formal and informal social organizations embrace. As a daughter in a military family, I have been exposed to the values and beliefs of many formal and informal social organizations. Since my family moved to a new town every ten months to three years, I belonged to many churches, schools, and peer groups. As is expected, these many social organizations had an effect on the shaping of my values and beliefs.

A major value that stems from my family is the value of achievement. In my family it is not acceptable to be lazy on a regular basis. It is, however, desirable to push yourself to achieve new things. These things may be anything from a college degree to climbing a mountain. My family instilled this value in me by using themselves as an example. Since I grew up seeing my family push themselves to achieve, I learned that this was the generally accepted behavior for our household (Zanden).

Another value that was instilled in me by my parents is individuality. Since the time I was a small child, my parents have tried to teach me to be myself and make my own decisions, regardless of how others perceive me. While this might not be acceptable behavior in some peer groups, it is the accepted way to behave within my family. This value was taught to my sister and me in a variety of ways. The most common way was for our parents to refuse to make important decisions for us. These decisions were left to us and caused us to think for ourselves instead of letting others do that job. The outcome of these teachings was a very strong value of individuality.

A value that has changed for me in recent year...

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...in the state. Naturally, experiencing these things led me to a better understanding of discrimination. It also taught me at a very young age that social equality is an important value to have and it should be taught to everyone.

The values described and explained here are just a few of the hundreds of beliefs and values that I hold as important. I was not born with these values, but rather learned them from the influences of formal and informal social organizations. I use these values and beliefs to shape the reasoning behind the decisions I make every day.

Bibliography:

References Cited

Becker, Howard S. "Culture: A Sociological View," The Yale Review, September 2, 1982, pp 513-527.

Kluckhohn, Clyde. "Queer Customs," Mirror for Man. McGraw-Hill Inc., 1976, pp103-107.

Zanden, Vander. Sociology- The Core. 4th ed. McGraw-Hill Inc. USA:1997.