Cultural Values: Changes and Contradictions

There are many questions that help us to understand a culture. What does the culture care about most? What are they striving for? What are their goals? All of these questions could be considered questions of values, the most important ideas, and things of a society. Though they share many values, every culture is unique, and, therefore, has a unique combination of values. In business, the United States, for example, values the things being traded (money, goods, services, etc.), while China values "guanxi" ("guan-tsee"), the relationship between the traders (it is more important how each party feels about the transaction). So, values can vary greatly among cultures. But cultural values are not static. New ways of thinking, new information, and changes in public opinion can modify a culture's values. It is only recently, for instance, that concern for the environment has become valued in American culture. Another idea that may soon be valued in the United States is same-sex marriage, and the idea of marriage equality.

According to an article written by Michael Barone, a senior political analyst for The Washington Examiner, "In 1996‚ Americans opposed [gay marriage] by a 68 percent to 27 percent margin. Last May‚ Americans [were] in favor by 53 percent to 45 percent." The number of people opposed to same-sex marriage has fallen, while those in favor has risen. Clearly, America's views on this issue are shifting, and along with that comes a shift in values. This change in perspective is a perfect example of the flux of values within a culture, and society.

Why are people changing their mind about gay marriage? A key force is the sociological idea of value contradictions, which occur when two or more cultural values cannot occur at the same time. In the context of same-sex marriage, America values freedom and liberty, which in general state that a person has the right to do whatever they want as long as it doesn't conflict with another's freedom (with other exceptions). The majority of Americans, furthermore, value heterosexual (“traditional”) marriage, which explicitly states that a person can only marry someone of the opposite sex. So, Americans value that everyone has the freedom to decide what they want to do, but they can't marry whoever they want. This is a value contradiction. The gradual change in same-sex marriage perception can be explained through the working out of America's value contradiction. We are currently seeing this in America, and soon may live in a society that values marriage equality, and sexual tolerance.

References:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guanxi

http://www.rasmussenreports.com/public_content/political_commentary/commentary_by_michael_barone/same_sex_marriage_moving_toward_the_mainstream