This article condenses the main points raised in a dissertation whose general aim was to understand how to express the values associated with instrumental rationality and substantive rationality in the culture of two centers of the network Uni-Yoga, located in the cities of Ponta Grossa (PR) and São José (SC). To do this, a multiple exploratory case study was developed based on qualitative and quantitative data (application of a questionnaire, direct observation and interviews in depth, semi-structured) based on the theory of the delimitation of social systems (GUERREIRO RAMOS, 1981). There was a search for documents and literature about the concepts related to Western and Eastern values that permeate the culture of the network Uni-Yoga - a Brazilian non-profit organization, managed in a participatory manner. It has achieved great success bringing together more than two hundred centers in Brazil and abroad. It was concluded that the three main categories of the theory of the division of systems - economy, phenonomy and isonomy - are fundamental to understanding the culture of the two centers of the network, and that the realities to which such categories refer are linked in a complex way.
Instrumental rationality; substantive rationality; social systems