Tradition — Meaning, Definition, and How This Core Value Shapes Your Life
What Is Tradition as a Core Value?
Tradition preserves customs, rituals, and wisdom passed through generations. People high in Tradition protect continuity and identity through practice, especially in family life, community rituals, and shared cultural storytelling.
Why Tradition Matters
Honoring Tradition helps you:
- maintain cultural memory,
- stabilize identity across change,
- transmit hard-earned lessons,
- foster belonging through shared rituals.
How Tradition Shows Up (High vs. Low Expression)
High Expression
- upholds ceremonies and rites,
- honors elders and lineage,
- references history in decisions,
- preserves meaningful symbols.
Low Expression
- neglects heritage and roots,
- discards rituals without reflection,
- prizes novelty over continuity,
- severs intergenerational ties.
Common Challenges of High Tradition
- resistance to needed change,
- gatekeeping innovation,
- exclusion of nonconformists,
- romanticizing the past.
Tradition in Conflict With Other Values
Tradition vs. Creativity
Creativity changes forms and norms; Tradition preserves them.
Tension: inventive evolution vs. continuity.
Tradition vs. Variety
Variety seeks constant novelty; Tradition repeats meaningful patterns.
Tension: novelty churn vs. ritual repetition.
Examples of Tradition in Daily Life
- Maintaining holiday rituals with family.
- Recording and teaching ancestral recipes.
- Incorporating historical context into policies.
- Supporting cultural festivals.