A Study of The Expression of Modern Values in Society Today

We are living a rapidly changing and evolving world with different value chain. Traditional ways of life are continually fading and modern value orientations are beginning to take shape. Value orientation is influenced by several aspects in the modern society. However, socioeconomics have played a major role in the shaping of modern value systems and orientation. Family is the most basic factor that has also played a major role on how individual behave and conduct themselves. This paper will evaluate Beck’s book to establish how modern value orientations are being expressed and their impact on social behavior as well as individual behavior.

Value orientation can be defined as and individual’s preference or stand while allocating resources or making decisions between themselves and other people. It determines the level of dedication that one has towards the interests of other people over personal achievements. People have varied values orientations thus they behave differently towards other people and achieve varied relationships with the people they engage with. Value orientations have been extensively studied in order to understand the behavior of people towards family, friends. This is because people tend to behave differently while dealing with people in the mentioned categories. Traditionally, value orientations were built on mutual respects and societal goals. The behavior of people was primarily guided by their culture (Lauder & Beck, 2006). That does not apply to modern value orientations. In the contemporary world, people mainly focus on their individual interests. This has resulted to an aspect of competition rather than collaboration within the community. Unfortunately, competition has its drawbacks as much as it promotes development. Competition promotes hatred and self-centeredness. Individual often carry out tasks alone and benefit themselves alone. Viewing this from a traditional perspective, one would confuse modern value orientations for egoism and narcissism (Lauder & Beck, 2006).

Unfortunately the modern dynamics have contributed greatly to these value orientations. Companies, organizations, family members and school systems are all competing to be better than their colleagues. This comes as a result of development of educational curriculums and technology hence individuals realize their potential to be more productive and eliminate the cultural barriers (Lauder & Beck, 2006). It is this liberalization that builds ne value orientations that are present today. Some of the value orientations include:

Individualistic orientation

People who have developed these value orientations mind their individual outcomes. While making decisions, they think in the lines that will only benefit them and they are barely concerned by the welfare of other people. This category of people tends to focus on their outcome alone and barely interfere with other people nor assist them. Their decision and actions may however affect other people indirectly.

Competitive orientation

Like individualists, competitors also strive to enhance their achievements while minimizing other outcomes. Competitors are often aggressive since arguments are regarded to be a win-lose position. For that reason, they force their ideologies on other people and expect them to be carried out effectively. According to competitors, everyone should play a winning role and they should make the best out of an opportunity. This often results to confrontations when excess pressure is imposed on other people

Cooperative orientation

Cooperators are rare to find in the modern world. They are a group people who are assertive. As much as they maximize on their outcomes, they take to consideration the outcomes of other people. They negotiate for win-win situations in their dealings and believe that everyone should be satisfied with the outcomes.

From these value orientations, we are better able to understand the context of Berks idea. These contemporary value orientations are necessary evils which people with aspirations to grow often adopt. The orientations could however be viewed as a manifestation of self-love and egoism. From Beck’s text, we are able to better understand the community and the value orientations that have taken root.