The word “principle” has many definitions. A couple of the definitions given by dictionary.reference.com are:
- an accepted or professed rule of action or conduct
- a fundamental, primary, or general law or truth from which others are derived
Values, on the other hand, as defined on page 31 in the Henslin textbook, are “beliefs about what is good or desirable in life and the way the world ought to be.” One could then argue that principles are the basis upon which we get our values. Principles are actions that are acceptable among the general populous, while values are on a more personal level. A person gains their values from how they interpret the certain principles of their society.
This one’s kind of a tough one for me. It’s a good examining exercise for me, though. I’ve never really considered my principles or values. I just do what I do. I don’t really know how to put them into words, but I can try.
Being a principle can sometimes be an action, I guess one principle I hold is that I always lightly bow to people after I have finished a conversation with them, just as a sign of respect. I think that may have more something to do with my sudden interest in Japanese society. Japanese bow to each other often, also as a sign of respect, like I do.
Other than that, I don’t think I really follow any societal principles. I’ve become too objective in my thinking to just follow generally accepted practices without questioning them. For instance, a generally accepted rule of thumb in this country would be to speak English, would it not? I, on the other hand, tend to speak Japanese if I know the word or phrase I’m trying to use instead of an English one. I also tend to be loud and obnoxious in public if I’m with my friends, and I tend to not care how I’m dressed (although my girlfriend is helping me with that).
As stated, I’ve just become too free-spirited and objective, because I realize, in the grand scheme of things, that nothing that we do really matters. Things only matter to humanity because we have placed certain colloquial meanings on them. That’s really the only value I have. I remain as objective as possible about everything. I realise the significance of how humans relate to the environment around them, and how this varies among cultures. What one thing means to someone can mean a different thing to another.
As long as I keep an open mind about everything, I can get a better sense of things. It has opened my mind up to so many realisations I’d never come to before, and it’s really a fantastic thing.
I imagine that sociologists want to stay away from principles because they rely too much on the accepted practices of a society. Principles will vary greatly from society to society, and it’s hard to know what these principles are without actually being part of said society. In this case, studying someone who has perhaps deviated from the principles of his or her society becomes difficult, because since they have deviated, they may have become so lost in their own principles that they either forget what those principles were, or they will have the tendency to spin those principles into a negative light to try to prove that their choices are better than what the society wants for them.
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