The United States prides itself on being a highly individualist nation. In individualist cultures, more importance is placed on the individual, as the name implies. Group goals can be important, but ultimately, the objectives and preferences of the individual are given greater weight than any group or organization they may be a part of. In the workplace, this can be seen as competition and in extreme cases, workaholism.
On the opposite end are countries such as China and India, who are very collectivist. These cultures put an emphasis on the goals and needs of the group over the individual. This isn’t to say that individual needs are ignored, but they are considered secondary to the needs of the team (Gruman, Schneider, & Coutts, 2017). Collectivism in the workplace may include deeper friendships with colleagues, but fewer opinions put forward by employees afraid to “rock the boat.”
It’s important to note that neither individualism nor collectivism is inherently “better” or “worse” than the other; they are simply different cultural values. Each have their pros and cons. When it comes to infectious diseases, one of the cons of a collectivist society, according to a 2013 study by Cashdan & Steele, is that pathogen prevalence tends to be higher, possibly due to the fact that families in collectivist cultures are more likely to take care of friends and family when they are ill, thus contracting the illness themselves. This study was done 7 years ago, so it hasn’t been applied to COVID-19 yet, but if true, it could potentially explain why COVID-19 spread so rapidly in collectivist China before safety measures were taken to slow its spread.
However, when it comes to slowing the spread of an infectious disease such as COVID that has already taken hold in a population, research by Biddlestone, Green, & Douglas (2020) suggests that more individualist cultures, such as the United States, have actually had lower rates of social distancing and self-quarantining than collectivist cultures, leading to the individualist nations having higher rates of COVID among the population overall. (Interestingly, this same study also found a correlation between individualism and the likelihood of believing in COVID-related conspiracy theories, though this will need to be studied further in order to draw any specific conclusions.) It’s not specified why collectivist cultures have tended to flatten the curve more than individualist countries in general, but it could potentially be similar to workplace attitudes—individuals don’t want to “rock the boat,” so they follow government recommendations and regulations in order to promote greater harmony amongst the group and avoid social ostracization.
When the world finally comes out on the other side of the pandemic and is able to look at the data, perhaps we’ll find that a balance between individualism and collectivism is needed when it comes to illnesses. Caring for sick friends and family members is noble, but greater safety precautions should be taken. And although social distancing and self-quarantining are not always “fun,” sometimes it is better to put personal desires aside and just do it anyway for the good of the population as a whole.
References:
Biddlestone, M., Green, R., & Douglas, K. M. (2020). Cultural orientation, power, belief in conspiracy theories, and intentions to reduce the spread of COVID‐19. British Journal of Social Psychology, 59(3), 663-673.
Cashdan, E., & Steele, M. (2013). Pathogen prevalence, group bias, and collectivism in the standard cross-cultural sample. Human Nature (Hawthorne, N.Y.), 24(1), 59-75.
Gruman, J. A., Schneider, F. W., and Coutts, L. M. (Eds.) (2017). Applied Social Psychology: Understanding and Addressing Social and Practical Problems (3rd ed.). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications
Since COVID-19 was announced to be active in the U.S. it is evident that our society has handled it quite differently than other societies. As a senior Psych major, I was already familiar with the idea of individualism/collectivism and I immediately thought about that when I saw how Americans were handling the spread of the virus. It seems like most people are responsible and adheres to the new rules for the sake of public health, but there is a group of Americans that were seemingly offended by the rules, stating that their individual freedoms were being tarnished and some even stated that they don’t care if they get sick or if they get anybody else sick. This is a stark difference than the way Taiwan handled the spread of the coronavirus. For the first 6 months that COVID was around, I worked closely with an individual whose family is living in Taiwan. Naturally, since Taiwan is an Eastern country, they are more of a collectivist society. That being said, very few citizens complained about the new public health rules and complied for the sake of their community. They immediately halted all travel, closed non-essential buildings, and required masks to be worn by everyone, everywhere. As far as I have been told by my coworker, Taiwan got the spread of the coronavirus under control by August and was reporting daily new cases to be zero. I fully believe that this was accomplished by the communities in Taiwan caring about those around them. I think if U.S. citizens cared more about their neighbors and the people in their communities the way people in collectivist communities do, we would have COVID more under control instead of the chaotic mess it is now. Great post! It is very informative to those who are unaware of what individualism and collectivism are.
Thank you so much for talking about this topic under the lens of individualism and collectivism. I have been thinking about this since first reading the chapter. I am not surprised that countries which promote collectivism have managed the pandemic better than those that emphasize individualism. When I read about how people who value individualism “will tend to follow his or her own goals regardless of the opinions of family or friends,” I immediately thought about how that could relate to how different groups of Americans view wearing masks, social distancing, opening the country and the existence of the virus itself. I would love to see what keywords are prevalent in qualitative data as soon as possible. Online surveys would be a safe way to find what language people use regarding these topics and have rating scales about themes like individual freedom versus collective responsibility. I am also interested to see if social identity theory could shed any light on the results. It seems that those with different political ideologies may see the pandemic very differently. The Pew Research Center, 2020 found that “partisanship [is the] biggest factor in comfort with activities during coronavirus.” According to the data, Republicans were more comfortable going to salons, restaurants, indoor events and crowded parties than Democrats. I’m sure I will be reading data about the spread of Coronavirus in the United States for years to come.
Gruman, J. A., Schneider, F. W., and Coutts, L. M. (Eds.) (2017). Applied Social Psychology: Understanding and Addressing Social and Practical Problems (3rd ed.). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications
Pew Research Center. (2020, June 25). Republicans, Democrats Move Even Further Apart in Coronavirus Concerns. https://www.pewresearch.org/politics/2020/06/25/republicans-democrats-move-even-further-apart-in-coronavirus-concerns/