Formation of Values

THE DEVELOPMENT AND FORMATION OF VALUES

The concept of value has several distinct meanings. To many, a value seems to be synonymous with attitude; an attitude being a predisposition to act in a certain way. An attitude is a mental and neural state of readiness, organized through the process of experience, exerting a directive or dynamic influence upon an individual's response to all objects and situations with which he or she is related. Perhaps more basic than an attitude, or even underlying attitude, a value is a type of belief, centrally located within one's total belief system, about how one ought or ought not to behave, or about some endstate of existence worth or not worth attaining. Thus, a value may be viewed both as a predisposition to act (attitude), and as an estimation of worth of an action.

Value is an important construct in nearly every branch of social science. It is also used in philosophy, theology,and education. The many and varied uses of the construct make

1 2definition difficult. Value is a more abstract construct than attitude. Values may express either personal or social preference, and they may serve either as ends or as means to ends.

There is general agreement that values cause attitudes, according to

. . .
ational culture is significant. This socialization may be described as a learning process, containing emotional and cognitive elements. It is the gradual learning of the norms, attitudes, and behavior accepted and practiced by the ongoing educational system. All educational systems, thus, tend to perpetuate their culture and structures through time, and they accomplish this end mainly by means of the socializing influences of the primary and secondary structures through which the young of the society pass in the process of maturation. Educational leaders are among society's elite. The elite of a society are usually distinguished from the masses in three aspects: wealth, status, power (Bottomore, 1987). A similar statement may be made with respect to systems 7within a society, of which education is one. All societal subsystems have two stratathe involved class and the noninvolved class. Elites are the involved class. The less numerous elite perform all leadership functions, and monopolize power whereas the second group is directed and controlled. The social backgrounds, vested interests, and ideologies of the elite within societal subsystems are, thus, significant, because these factors affect elite val
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Approximate Word count = 3378
Approximate Pages = 14 (250 words per page)

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