Cultural Values

The key ideas, ideals, and norms of a given culture that serve to regulate and guide a person's life. Values form the internal compass of an individual. They guide actions and shape decision making in both individuals and organizations. The collection of values is a value system.

The study of mass media and its effects on values is generally placed in two contexts: (1) the modern period, which begins in the 19th century with the arrival of the Industrial Revolution, and (2) the postmodern, post-World War II period. In the modern period, values were typified by the belief in concepts such as democracy, freedom, justice, individualism, rational order, and the scientific method and in a work ethic that leads to material success. Values were thought to be hierarchical, in both the individual and the culture. These hierarchies may differ. As values are held in common by members of a culture, they make social life possible, yet they can cause friction within a social group and make change difficult, usually when the individual's hierarchy differs from the culture's. The postmodern context suggests that the value system is not hierarchical but, rather, more like a complex map. The pronounced disillusionment that marks postmodern thought has manifested in a shift in values: opposing hierarchy, questioning scientific reasoning, recycling culture, and embracing paradox.

Research tends to indicate that values are acquired through the process of socialization and that the media, along with the family, schools, and so forth, are agents of socialization. It has been suggested, on the one hand, [Page 128]that the media reinforce values. For example, most crime dramas are resolved with the forces of good prevailing over the evil forces—that is, an arrest, a conviction, or the death of the criminal—thus reinforcing the cultural values of rational order and justice. Also, some researchers have suggested that the media can be consciously used to acquire norms and values and that many individuals, particularly adolescents, use it for that purpose. However, cultivation theorists suggest that being exposed to too much media can result in a cumulative effect that degrades cultural values and skews the viewer's concept of reality. For example, if somebody watches too much violent television, he or she will believe that the world is a far more dangerous place than it is. This mean world syndrome represents an unconscious erosion of cultural values such as freedom and justice. For more information, see Campbell, Martin, and Fabos (2007).