Individualism versus collectivism

Our first cultural value dimension is individualism versus collectivism. Individualism stresses individual
goals and the rights of the individual person. Collectivism focuses on group goals, what is best for the
collective group, and personal relationships.

An individualist is motivated by personal rewards and benefits. Individualist persons set personal goals
and objectives based on self. Individualistic workers are very comfortable working with autonomy and
not part of a team.

The collectivist is motivated by group goals. Long-term relationships are very important. Collectivistic
persons easily sacrifice individual benefit or praise to recognize and honor the team’s success. In fact,
being singled out and honored as an individual from the rest of the team may be embarrassing to the
collectivistic person.

The generalized geographic clusters of individualism may be found in Anglo countries, Germanic Europe,
and Nordic Europe. Geographic clusters for collectivism are often located in Arab countries, Latin
America, Confucian Asia, Southern Asia, and Sub-Saharan Africa.

An example of how individualism versus collectivism may play out at a university is related to academic
integrity. At a university in the United States where individualism is considered the norm, each individual
student is expected and generally required to do their own individual work. Sometimes this is confusing
to international students from a collectivistic society who come to a university in the United States. The
collectivistic expectation is that if another student with whom you have a personal relationship needs
your help, then you provide that help. A collectivistic student has a mandatory social obligation to help
the other student succeed. This higher collectivistic social obligation can be in direct violation of
academic integrity in an individualistic academic setting.

In individualistic value orientation, people are primarily concerned about themselves and their
immediate family. In collectivistic value orientation, people's major concern is their ingroup or
community. The ingroup is expected to look after an individual in exchange for loyalty. The distinction
between the ingroups and outgroups in collectivistic cultures in reflected in communication, for example,
in different norms of politeness. The ingroup is vital for a person's success -- even survival -- and
therefore good relationships have to be maintained.

Belonging to an ingroup is verbalized in such daily communicative practices as greetings. In some

cultures the greetings include not the person talked to but also inquiries after the well-being of his/her
family members. In Mozambique, for instance, a common question in local languages is "How are you (in
plural)?" (in Portuguese: como estão?). In general, the concept of the human being in collectivistic
societies such as Mozambique is collective also in the sense that it comprises the dead, the living and the
yet to be born.

Collectivism, and collective thinking is defined by Ethiopians as follows:

"Thinking that originates from the influence of a traditional society, where more or less everything is
collectively owned, where neighbourhoods live in unison sharing the pleasures and toils of life, and
where interests seem to converge and overlap. As a result of this, the whole community is so rigidly tied
together with socio-economic and cultural cohesion, that sharing the same idea and images, shelter and
neighbourhood, images and feelings, stories, myths, values and traditional cults, becomes the norm"
(Vasko, Kjisik, Salo-Lee 1998:84).

Individualism is a characteristic tendency of industrialized societies. Modernization induces changes

which are often assumed to be unidirectional, i.e., all societies are developing the same characteristic
traits in the modernization process. The traits attributed to modern societies include (Bond 1995)

* the sense of personal efficacy (anti-fatalism)

* low social integration with relatives

* egalitarian attitude towards others

* openness to innovation and change

* belief in sexual equality

* high achievement motivation

* independence or self-reliance

* active participation in social organizations

* tolerance of, and respect for, others

* cognitive and behavioural flexibility

* future organization

* empathetic capacity

* high need for information

* propensity to take risks in life

* secularization in religious belief

* preference for urban life

* high educational and occupational aspirations.

In spite of the assumption that the process of convergence towards a modern society is the same from
culture to culture, a society can modernize and not lose valued elements of its tradition. The modern
and the tradition are not necessarily incompatible.
Liisa Salo-Lee, 2006