Components of Culture: Values

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Components of Culture Values
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Values defined

• A standard by which members of culture define
  what is
• desirable or undesirable
• good or bad
• beautiful or ugly
• acceptable or unacceptable

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Values are regularly contested.

• For
• example,
• what
• makes
• a
• woman
• beautiful?

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The answer often depends on WHEN the question is
asked

• Today
• mainstream
• America might
• cite a woman
• like this as
• being
• beautiful

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Or perhaps one of these women
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But what about 50 years ago?

• Americans might have said that these were the
  most beautiful women.

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How about 100 years ago?
How are these women different from todays
version of beauty?
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Beauty also depends on WHERE the question is
asked.

• Around the world, there is not just one standard
  of beauty, but many.
• Certain features of the face or body are
  emphasized in various parts of the world.

Women from Burma
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Ears and mouths are features commonly accented
Women from Ethiopia
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Adornments for the mouth can include tattoos
and jewels for the teeth.
Girl from Borneo
Maori Woman with Moko
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Here beauty accents are focused on the face and
head
Nigerian Woman
Mangbetu Woman
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although other parts of the body have also been
emphasized, such as the feet.
3 S H O E S
Sketch of a womans bound feet
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The overall body can also reflect values of
beauty.

• Today thinness is commonly accepted in many
  cultures as synonymous with beauty.

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In some cultures thinness might be a reflection
of physical fitness
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Although there are still extremes

• When does thin become too thin?

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Thinness has not always been a Western standard
of beauty.
Painting by Peter Paul Rubens
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Nor is thinness the standard everywhere in the
world today.
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To summarize

• Values are standards set by the members of a
  society.
• Values are often highly contested.
• Values can change significantly over time.
• Values can differ within one society and around
  the world.