Societal Dynamics: Culture, Values, and Life Balance

Social Values and Women's Life Conciliation

This research analyzes the extent to which social values influence or direct the ways in which women resolve the moral dilemma that enables them to balance family life, work life, and personal life. The definition of conciliation we use is broader than that which is frequently used, which often reduces the problem to solely the work-family dilemma. Our idea of conciliation is not limited to only these two areas of human activity.

We understand conciliation as the vital ways in which people manage to live, work, and raise a family, but also to enjoy life, pursue hobbies, study, eat, and more.

Understanding Culture: Elements and Change

What is Culture?

Sociologists define culture as patterns of life forms: the values, beliefs, behaviors, customs, and material objects that constitute the lifestyle of a people. Human beings depend on culture to ensure their own survival.

Core Elements of Culture

All cultures are different, but they seem to be built from five basic elements:

• Symbols: Human beings construct a reality of meanings. In doing so, humans transform elements of the world into symbols—anything that carries a special meaning recognized by people who share a culture.
• Language: The most important component of culture, language is a symbol system that allows members of society to communicate.
• Values and Beliefs: Values are moral standards people use to judge what is good and what is bad, and they vary between different cultures. Beliefs are specific statements that people hold to be true.
• Norms: These are rules and expectations by which a society guides the conduct of its members. Some norms are proscriptive, forbidding what we should not do, while others are prescriptive, explaining what we should do.
• Material Culture: This refers to the physical objects, resources, and spaces that people use to define their culture.

Dynamics of Cultural Change

Culture, like everything, changes over the years. Cultural changes occur along three paths:

1. Invention: The process of creating new cultural elements.
2. Discovery: Involves the recognition and understanding of something not previously understood or known.
3. Diffusion: The spread of cultural traits from one society to another. Technological capability to send information around the globe in seconds implies that the level of cultural diffusion has never been as great as it is today.