Beliefs or qualities that people or you possess that cannot be influenced by the dominant culture
Accepting something exists without having seen it from one own eyes in somewhat of these words we define belief. Being human, we all have our own se or beliefs, attitude and values which comes with the passage of time and what we all experience throughout our lives. These experiences contribute to our sense that who we are, how we view the world and we make our own judgment about what’s acceptable and what’s unacceptable.
Coming back to the topic at hand that a person possessing qualities that are not influenced by a dominating culture, this is near to impossible as earlier we established that our beliefs and attitude come from what we experience from our surroundings and what we learn every day. They come from a variety of sources. Some of these include:
- family
- peers (social influences)
- the workplace (work ethics, job roles)
- educational institutions such as schools or TAFE
- significant life events (death, divorce, losing jobs, major accident and trauma, major health issues, significant financial losses and so on)
- religion
- music
- media
- technology
- culture
- Major historical events (world wars, economic depressions, etc.).
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Dominant beliefs are those that are widely shared amongst a group, community or culture. They are passed on through sources such as the media, institutions, religious organizations or family, but remember what is considered dominant in one culture or society will vary to the next. Some could be;
- family—caring for each other, family comes first
- peers—importance of friendship, importance of doing things that peers approve of
- workplace—doing your job properly; approving/disapproving of ‘foreign orders’ (doing home-related activities in work time or using work resources for home related activities)
- educational institutions—the valuing or otherwise of learning; value of self in relation to an ability to learn (this often depends on personal experience of schooling, whether positive or negative)
- significant life events—death of loved ones and the impact on what we value as being important; marriage and the importance and role of marriage and children; separation and divorce and the value change that may be associated with this (valuing of self or otherwise)
- religion—beliefs about ‘right and wrong’ and beliefs in gods
- media—the impact of TV, movies, radio, the Internet and advertising on what is important in our lives, what is valued and not valued
- music—music often reflects what is occurring in society, people’s response to things such as love and relationships which may then influence the development of our values
- technology—the importance of technology or otherwise; the importance of computers and developing computer skills
- culture—a cultural value such as the importance of individuality as opposed to conforming to groups
- Major historical events—not wasting anything, saving for times of draught, valuing human life, patriotic values.
Taking the simplest of the example that a person wanting to save the environment stopping all logging, while his intensions are good for the people and for the generations to come but at the same time a person who earns his living but selling log or logging or anything in that regard will see the first persons intentions a direct attack to his lively hood.
Another example we can see in our society today how we are all being influenced by the west dominating culture. And some calls it women empowerment and some modernisms.
Thus is concludes that we are influenced by the dominating cultures.
