Individualism And Collectivism
To think collective or to think as an individual?, to seek the common good or the personal?, these questions are repeated over and over again every time we talk about the debate between Collectivism and Individualism, today we will talk about it and come to a conclusion about which thought is better.
Thinking in a collective or individualistic way goes beyond a simple political debate, it borders on the cultural, philosophical and psychological. In fact, these cultures significantly affect our behavior, if you think individually you are more likely to have an independent view of yourself, while if you think collectivistically you are likely to have an interdependent view of yourself, also people from individualistic cultures are more likely to mention personal traits when finishing the sentence "I am", while people from collectivistic cultures are more likely to list relationships and group memberships. All this has been studied by the Psychologists Hazel Markus and Shinobu Kitayama.
One interesting thing to note is that in Asia people tend to be more collectivist while in the West they tend to be more individualistic, also individualistic cultures, relationships are often seen as voluntary, and it's not uncommon to choose to end relationships that are not beneficial. On the other hand, relationships in collectivistic cultures are often seen as more stable, permanent, and there is a greater obligation to not be a burden on close others.
In spite of all this we must bear in mind that there are several factors that can affect these thoughts, in the case of collectivists it can vary according to the context of the situation while in the case of individualists it can vary their independence. As human beings we are constantly changing our context depending on the context and so it indicates this study which found that individuals from two cultural backgrounds became more individualistic when shown images relating to an individualistic culture and more collectivistic when shown images relating to a collectivistic culture.
Therefore we can say that Individualist and Collectivist thinking will always be present in us as human beings and as such, both are important for our lives, however, we have to bear in mind that a balance or at least a focus on what would be most beneficial to us for what we want to do or achieve would be ideal for us to progress as people, in other words, depending on the context we must choose whether to be more individualistic or more collectivist, that is the key word, to choose, to have the freedom to do so, nowadays when we talk about this debate the main point is basically: "Forcing or not forcing" because defenders of individualistic thought seek the freedom of individuals not to force them to do something involuntary for a particular society or group, while defenders of collectivist thought seek to force actions for the "common good".
But isn't it better to maintain the principle of freedom and let people choose whether or not to be collectivists in a particular situation?, actions when voluntary are much more efficient, when you try to forcefully implement collectivist thinking through a political machine and therefore the law, you would not only be denying the individuality of each person, which is very stupid in itself, but you would also be condemning a society to misery, dependence and conformity. "How radical you are Dani, why do you think that?", I have a reason to think that and no, it is not because of radicalism, when you make a dependent person automatically that person will lose responsibility, when he loses responsibility he loses efficiency, and what happens when this happens to an entire group, problems happen, what happens to all the societies that have implemented this thought by force... Have you heard of the Communists?
Dr. Jordan Peterson once said in a talk "A collectivist society would never have invented the car", because it was a very strange idea, because the car was intended to take you from one place to another without someone else's permission. Individualistic thinking becomes much stronger when you realize that it is the thought that guarantees you freedom, in fact, this is the ideal that the American Founders set forth and sought to establish when they drafted the Declaration and the Constitution and created a country in which the individual's rights to life, liberty, property, and the pursuit of happiness were to be recognized and protected.
Individualistic thinking can never be forced, because as a human being, you are an individual, you have your own ideas, thoughts and actions. All that is created even unconsciously, you are an individual, therefore an external agent cannot force it, it is unnecessary and trying to do it is ridiculous, in this is what differs from collectivist thinking in that if you could and seek to condemn the fact of thinking in an individualistic way for not seeking the "common good" of your group or society.
✅ Individualism = Freedom to be Individualist and Collectivist.
❎Collectivism = Forced to be Collectivist regardless the situation, Individualism not allowed.
"Man has no rights except those which society permits him to enjoy", sounds bad, isn't it?, The idea that your life does not belong to yourself but to a group is repellent and even more repellent is to think that you must, by imposition, sacrifice your rights and your happiness for the good of the majority. If you are not in favour of this, then I congratulate you... You're an individualist, thank you so much for reading, peace.
| # | References | Titles |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | HealthyPsych | Individualist or Collectivist? How Culture Influences Behavior |
| 2 | NCBI | Multicultural Minds. A dynamic constructivist approach to culture and cognition. |
| 3 | Research Gate | Culture and the Self: Implications for Cognition, Emotion, and Motivation |
| 4 | The Objetive Standard | Individualism vs. Collectivism: Our Future, Our Choice |
| 5 | Youtube | Jordan Peterson on Collectivism, Individualism and Western Civilization |
Posted from my blog with SteemPress : http://daniscib.vornix.blog/2018/07/06/individualism-and-collectivism/
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