February 14th, Individualism v.s. Collectivism

Individualism v.s. Collectivism

I grew up in a family of 9 children, my mom and dad. When I met my husband we were teenagers, he told me one day, that they were afraid of saying bad things to any of us, because if they did we all gather and protect the member of the family, so they were afraid of us. He thought of us as a very strong brotherhood, and yes we were, I say we were because as time passed by, we have to make our lives and almost all of the 8 moved away from here, leaving me with with my new family. We are still a strong family but each member now leaving apart and growing up their new family, but sometimes we gather for a Family Reunion.

When I heard of individualism and collectivism which is group oriented I thought oh, my family was group oriented and yes we have the goal to be an Eternal family but now I can see that we are also individualistic because we followed our dreams and make some changes to fulfill them even if it required us to leave the family home.

Why is it so important to understand these concepts in culture? How would it help us to understand other cultures?

First  every part of culture is important, culture is a pattern of values and  behaviors that are shared and transmitted from generation to generation by the members of a social group. 

According to the article, Part III Continuum of Individualistic and Collectivist Values, " Nearly three-fourths of the worlds cultures can be describes a collectivist.(Triandis, 1989).
So each member of the family or the society working on be half their community and not just themselves. On the contrary individualistic, works to make them self sufficient, self determined, self reliant with an independent living. So as you can see we can have both being responsible for our personal growth and at the same time contributing to the society to whom we belong.

Let´s see the constrast of both values.

Table 4. Contrasts in Emphasis between Common Collectivistic and Individualistic Values

Continuum of Values
Collectivistic	Individualistic
Interdependence	Independence
Obligations to others	Individual rights
Rely on group	Self-sufficiency
Adhere to traditional values	True to own values and beliefs
Maintain traditional practices	Continuously improve practices (progress)
Fulfill roles within group	Pursue individual goals/interests
Group achievement	Individual achievement
Competition between groups	Competition between individuals
Group or hierarchical decision-making	Self-determination and individual choice
Shame/guilt due to failing group	Shame/guilt due to individual failure
Living with kin	Independent living
Take care of own	Seek help if needed
Property shared within group	Strong individual property rights
Elders transmit knowledge (often oral)	Individuals seek knowledge (often textual)
Objects valued for social uses	Objects valued for technological uses

According to this table I would say that we must find balance within these two values because of them are good. And we must understand others cultures because they also have pros. in ther individualism or collectivism. Don´t you think?

http://www.ncset.org/publications/essentialtools/diversity/partIII.asp