Worldviews

Worldviews shape the philosophies of a culture and guide a society's institutional policies. In turn, the broadly conceived philosophies of these entities influence individuals and groups and give meaning to individual life experiences. Although one's worldview affects individual life experiences, the societal and cultural practices that evolve from social, moral, religious, educational, economic, and political customs are shared with other members in an individual's reference group. A worldview is an unspoken but inevitable outcome of the socialization process, yet it is all but invisible: A worldview is a set of conceptual lenses through which to view the surrounding environment without “seeing” itself.