Understanding Worldview

Worldview

• A worldview consists of beliefs, values, images, and assumptions
• These are used to construct a taken-for-granted reality
• This shapes how people perceive and make sense of everything

Worldview Differences

• Worldview differences are common in perceptions of social reality
• It includes issues of privilege and oppression
• It is often the reason for conflict

Questions to consider regarding worldview

• To what degree are individuals responsible for the quality of their lives?
• Is it only people in poverty to blame?
• Are the wealthy the sole cause of their own abundance?
• Does every citizen of the United States count equally as a "real" American?
• Are some more "real" than others?
• What is capitalism and socialism?
• In what ways does each contribute to or interfere with democracy?
• Are corporations people?
• Is it possible for a group or individual to have too much wealth?
• Why is there poverty and wealth?
• Are sexual orientation and gender identity matters of individual choice?
• What is marriage and does it matter how it is defined, and to whom?
• Should social life be organized so that people can participate regardless of disabilities?
• Does a woman have the right to control her own body, including when she is pregnant?
• Is a human fetus a citizen protected by the U.S. Constitution?
• Why is most violence perpetrated by men?
• What does it mean to love your country when it does things one believes are wrong?
• Is race a biological fact or a cultural idea with no basis in biology?
• Are people of color and white people equally likely to break the law?
• Are things that happened in the past, such as slavery and genocide in the United States, only matters of history, or do they continue to shape social life today?

Cognitive Dissonance

• Cognitive dissonance is the discomfort brought on by a mismatch between new information and what one has assumed was true.
• The more invested someone is in their view, the more upset they tend to be when it is challenged.
• One way to remove the dissonance is to discredit the new information and the people associated with it

Sociological Worldview

• In a sociological worldview nothing in human life comes down to just a matter of isolated individuals
• People live as participants in social systems, and what people think, feel, and do results from the dynamic relation between the two

Basis For Believing a Worldview is True

• Consider whether it is based on a careful study of a comprehensive body of evidence
• Is it a collection of stories and impressions and whether it is based on personal experience or an article of faith
• Explore the possibility of a gut feeling that it must be true, or an inability to imagine that it could not

Considering Different Views

• Assume the person you disagree with is intelligent, thoughtful, and well-intentioned
• Seriously consider that a contradicting view might be true
• Explore if opposing views have some element of truth
• Consider what happens if what you believe turns out not to be true, and what is at stake for you

Social Consequences

• Consider the social consequences of adopting one worldview or another
• Consider what difference it makes how questions are answered in the culture and what effects that produces
• Recognize that worldviews are just that, and are not the only ones;
• Understand that those who see things differently are not crazy, stupid, or bad,
• Aim to creating a society where multiple worldviews can coexist without hostility.