ALS Topic
23 -
Individualist Cultures Vs Collectivist Cultures
Focus questions for Adelaide Lunchtime
Seminar, 8 December 2018
Venue: · Adelaide
(https://www.meetup.com/AdelaideLunchtimeSeminar/ )
Note: About Focus Questions: a) Please read them before you come to the meetup. Think about them so you have more than "instant opinions" to offer. b) Feel free to add more focus questions. c) THE FOCUS QUESTIONS ARE JUST A MENU TO CHOOSE FROM. From this menu we can discuss whatever seems interesting. d) Focus questions are not intended to push one viewpoint! You can adopt any position you wish. We actually like friendly disagreement - it can lead to deeper understanding.
Focus Questions
1.
On a scale of 1 (individualist) to 5 (collectivist) where would you
place your own personality?
2. Now that you have labeled
yourself (Q1) what do you actually mean by that label?
3. It
is often assumed (e.g. by journalists) that in supposedly
collectivist cultures such as the Chinese, people are less selfish
and more likely to help other people than in individualist cultues
such as that dominant in the United States? How true is thia in
practice? Think of examples.
4. Name three cultures that you
would consider individualistic, and three cultures that you would
consider collectivist. Why did you put them in these categories? How
do they actually compare.
5. Think of ideologies: Communism,
by the very name, implies collectivism, while capitalism implies
individualism. How have these theoretical types played out when
applied to actual countries (which might or might no be dominantly
collectivist/individualist)? Religions are known to adapt even their
core beliefs to local cultures (syncretism). Has this also been true
of communism & capitalism?
6. Our personalities are an
outcome of nature and nurture (what we are born with, and how
experience shapes it). To what extent do you think that individuals
can be lucky or not lucky by being born into a collectivist or
individualistic culture that matches their personal tendencies?
7. Both locally and globally our lives are becoming ever more
interdependent. Who do you think is best equipped to survive in tis
complex environment: the individualist or the collectivist? [As an
example, think of how most doctors used to function as independent
professionals, but are now forced to function in teams].
8.
By nature and upbringing I am an incurably individualist, but one
who senses that the modern human world can only survive through
intense cooperation with large numbers of other people. For me this
has always led to great cognitive dissonance, frequent revolt
against organizational decisions, and probably the absence of any
real 'career'. If you were a career advisor, what would you consider
to be the best option for a person like me?
9. Traditional
English culture was famous for tolerating, or even celebrating, the
eccentricity of particular individuals. There was sure to be someone
in every pub who was fondly known as 'a character'. This was
somewhat true also in the Australia where I was born in 1945. The
Australian slang for an eccentric character was 'a dag'. Australia
in 2018 has over three times the 1945 population and is a different
country. What is the present attitude to eccentrics in Australia? Do
you think this general public attitude now reflects an
individualistic or collectivist tendency?
10. The slicing and
dicing of 'big data' by both companies and governments is making it
efficient for them to discriminate against us as individuals for
differing from the average. In other words they are trying to force
us to be part of statistical collections. [See Cathy O'Neil's book,
Weapons of Math Destruction, for examples of this]. What evidence is
there that people from so-called collectivist cultures will be less
likely to resist being statistically herded or rejected than people
from so-called individualistic cultures?
11. Defensive living
- how cautious are people about their reputations, or their dignity
in individualistic Vs collectivist cultures (or isn't this question
relevant)?
-----------------------------
Comments & Extra Reading
Thor May (2001) "Individualism or the Group?" Academia.edu @ https://www.academia.edu/2333623/Individualism_or_the_Group
Thor May (2001 ) ""When Is It Rude To Be
Rude? - Politeness Across Cultures and Subcultures - 언제 무례하여
무례해지는가?" Academia.edu @
https://www.academia.edu/1565362/When_Is_It_Rude_To_Be_Rude_-_Politeness_Across_Cultures_and_Subcultures_-_언제_무례하여_무례해지는가
Thor May (2003) "Korean, American and Other Strange Habits - You Do It Your Way - two books reviewed" Academia.edu @ https://www.academia.edu/2044672/Korean_American_and_Other_Strange_Habits_-_You_Do_It_Your_Way_-_two_books_reviewed
Thor May (2018 ) "The Ambiguity of
Courage" Academia.edu @
https://www.academia.edu/36762563/The_Ambiguity_of_Courage
- The social outsider is found in all types of societies, but
his or her fate in those various societies can be radically
different. Here Thor gives an autobiographical account, described
through two incidents, of being shaped as an outsider in Australian
culture.
Thor May (2010) "Somebody Else’s Problem
– Decision Making in China" Academia.edu @
https://www.academia.edu/1937265/Somebody_Else_s_Problem_Decision
_Making_in_China
Thor May (2010) "Cultural Operating Systems
– Thoughts on Designing Cultures" Academia.edu @
https://www.academia.edu/1869052/Cultural_Operating_Systems_Thoughts
_on_Designing_Cultures
Thor May (2013) "Ethical Behaviour is Harder
for the Rich". The Passionate Skeptic website @
http://thormay.net/unwiseideas/Ethical-Behaviour-is-Harder-for-the-Rich.htm
Thor May (2014) "Are we too wealthy?". The
Passionate Skeptic website @
http://thormay.net/unwiseideas/TooWealthy2.htm
Madhu => I found this link where you can
check or compare cultural characteristics of different countries
such as individualism, power distance etc.
https://www.hofstede-insights.com/country-comparison/
=>> Thor May - Thanks Madhu. What a relief to find someone else who
actually reads.
Thor May => Cultures are mostly organic - they grow without much conscious direction from anyone over long periods of time. But what happens when a synthetic, mass organization like a religion (e.g. the Catholic Church) or a one party nation-state (e.g. PRC China) decides to impose 'collective' social arbitration on everyone? Inevitably there will be some individual injustice, but for a common good? Perhaps sometimes. But the arbitrary and uninformed decisions of such leadership are also prone to mass catastrophe for the majority. A relevant outcome for such imposed ruling is China's one child policy: Audrey Jiajia Li (30 November 2018) "Can the Communist party get out of China’s bedrooms now, please?" The Guardian @ https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2018/nov/29/communist-party-china-bedroom
=> ian beutler - one point,
Thor... an' i ws out tday chatting with some gd down-to-earth folk..
pple are getting MORE FEARFUL of speaking out, not to mention
ACTiNG.. out...! ! ! ! !
=> Thor May - Yes Ian, they live with
their heads inside fear-fertilized social media bubbles beamed out
of smart phones, even walking down the street ... It's a new
species.
Jared Diamond (1991, 2006) "The Third
Chimpanzee: The Evolution and Future of the Human Animal". Wikipedia
summary at
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Third_Chimpanzee .
[Thanks Madhu for the reference]. Published by Harper. Volume at
Amazon,
https://www.amazon.com/Third-Chimpanzee-Evolution-Future-Animal/dp/0060845503
Koshal (September 27, 2011) "Difference
Between Collectivism and Individualism". DifferenceBetween website @
https://www.differencebetween.com/difference-between-collectivism-and-vs-individualism/
[comment: This is rather over-simplified]
Wikipedia (2018) "Collectivism". Wikipedia @
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Collectivism
Wikipedia (2018) "Individualism". Wikipedia
@
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Individualism
Thor May => Perhaps the most famous
expression in English literature of the need to belong to a group is
John Donne's (1572-1631) poem
"No Man Is An Island"
No man is an
island,
Entire of itself,
Every man is a piece of the
continent,
A part of the main.
If a clod be washed away by the
sea,
Europe is the less.
As well as if a promontory were.
As well as if a manor of thy friend's
Or of thine own were:
Any man's death diminishes me,
Because I am involved in mankind,
And therefore never send to know for whom the bell tolls;
It
tolls for thee.
Thor May (2015) @
http://thormay.net/literature/timepassing/EachManIsAnIsland.html
=>
A while ago, for fun, I composed a mirror
poem to John Donne's work:
"Each Man is an Island"
Each man is
an island entire of itself; though every man
seeks a bridge, a
link to the main;
if a town is washed away by the sea, the
country
will restock, as well as if a politician were, as
well
as if any collection of your Facebook friends or of your
silly
dreams were; every man’s death saddens me,
because I imagined his
shadow nearby.
And therefore never send to know for whom
the
siren wails; it comes for you and me.
Gerard Hofstede (2015)
"Individualism Vs Collectivism - world map" @
https://www.targetmap.com/viewer.aspx?reportId=48440
[comment: best not to take this map too literally]
Gary D. Gregory and James M. Munch (1996)
,"Reconceptualizing Individualism-Collectivism in Consumer
Behavior", in NA - Advances in Consumer Research Volume 23, eds. Kim
P. Corfman and John G. Lynch Jr., Provo, UT : Association for
Consumer Research, Pages: 104-110. @
http://www.acrwebsite.org/volumes/7924/volumes/v23/NA-23
Liz Gold (June 27, 2018) "Collectivism vs.
Individualism in the Workplace" Bizfluent website @
https://bizfluent.com/info-8192993-collectivism-vs-individualism-workplace.html
Psychology Wiki "Collectivist and
individualist cultures" @
http://psychology.wikia.com/wiki/Collectivist_and_individualist_cultures
[comment: heavy on stereotypes. Treat with caution]
Nathalie
Nahai (Jul 15, 2013) "How to Sell Online to Individualist vs
Collectivist Cultures" Psychology Today
website @
https://www.psychologytoday.com/au/blog/webs-influence/201307/how-sell-online-individualist-vs-collectivist-cultures
Anamaria Knight (n.d.) "I or We? How
Individual- or Group-Orientation Influences Cultures…and Education"
Small Planet Studio @
https://smallplanetstudio.com/i-or-we-how-individual-or-group-orientaion-influences-culturesand-education/
Thor May (2015) "So You Love Humanity But Can’t Stand People?" - Humanity, when assembled as a state, also finds it hard to tolerate the individual. When should collective interests (e.g. those of a state) override the interests of individuals? Example: Many Americans see “the right to bear arms” as a triumph of individual rights over the collective rights of the state. The Passionate Skeptic website @ http://thormay.net/unwiseideas/collective.htm
Thor's own websites:
1. articles at http://independent.academia.edu/ThorMay ;
2. legacy site: http://thormay.net .