Worldview

Worldview

A worldview, as defined on the Humanities 310 course website, is “a theory of the world, used for living in the world. A world view is a mental model of reality — a framework of ideas & attitudes about the world, ourselves, and life, a comprehensive system of beliefs — with answers for a wide range of questions: What are humans, why we are here, and what is our purpose in life? What are your goals for life? When you make decisions about using time — it's the stuff life is made of — what are your values and priorities? What can we know and with how much certainty?Does reality include only matter/energy, or is there more?” In order to have an appropriate view of society it is imperative that individuals are able to examine their own worldview as well as understand other’s. A person’s worldview is determined by a number of factors. For the sake of time we will look at two specific influences family culture and geographical location.

What culture you are brought up in has a major impact on worldview. For instance in Western culture a part of our worldview is we very much believe in fairness, individualism, and having many options. Examples of this is evident in our everyday lives. The very essence of our society rests on our Constitution and judicial system. Everything is about being unique, being independent, making a name for yourself, and we have more option than anywhere else in the world. Whether it’s different colors, special features, customize tastes, etc we are not without our options. Because of the climate of our culture most American’s are more selfish and self-centered than other cultures. Everything about our society is about the individual with very little emphasis on the common good of an entire group of people. In the workplace most American’s base their success on how high they as an individual can climb the corporate latter.Also, because of the emphasis on justice American’s are more prone to fight for their rights. When they feel as though they have been wronged or their is a socially injustice they will pursue justice.The same is not true in other culture. Take Eastern society. Easterners tend to be more oriented on a group as a whole. They tend to measure their success by how successful the organization is as a whole. In the workplace they are not successful unless the entire organization is excelling. Because of this view, they are less prone to speak out against social injustices. They tend to accept some forms of social injustice as they believe it is noble or the way of the world. Also, in Eastern culture there tends to be less customization and more uniformization.

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