In reading this week’s lesson, the idea of individualism vs. collectivism really stuck out to me. Growing up, I had neighbors who were from India. Every evening, around dinnertime, I would see their entire extended family pull up and presumably have dinner together. This seemed strange to me as the only time we had that many people over for dinner were on Christmas and Thanksgiving. I eventually became friends with the youngest daughter who explained to me that her family did everything together. From minor things like dinner every night to major things like deciding who she was going to marry, every decision was made by the entire family, for the good of the family. Making decisions as an individual was a foreign concept to her.
As I read the lesson, I realized that my friend’s family practiced collectivism as was the norm in her society. In India, arranged marriages are still common and the family unit runs almost like a board of directors. In some ways I can see this being nice – a built in support system to help make difficult decisions. On the other hand, I could not imagine someone else telling me who I could and could not marry. I do not feel that “forced” collectivism in my personal life would be welcomed – I don’t like others telling me what I can and can’t do.
There are other areas of society where I do feel that a collectivistic attitude is beneficial. I have worked in various occupations throughout my career. Some of the work environments that I experienced were very team-oriented. Meetings were held in which individual opinions were valued and discussed amongst the group. Many decisions were made as a group. I found that I was more successful in this kind of environment as opposed to just having a boss telling everyone else what to do in spite of individual opinions (sometimes to the contrary). It was interesting to find out that Japan, a country seen as a successful powerhouse of industry, practices collectivism in business settings. Because of this, conflict is seen as an opportunity for compromise rather than a black and white win or loss (Gruman et. al 387). It would seem to me that this kind of attitude fosters increased success.
I believe that both individualism and collectivism have a proper place in society. Examining the way other cultures interact in both personal and business matters could help us to develop a happy balance between the two in an effort to be both happy and successful.
References
Gruman, J. A., Schneider, F. W., & Coutts, L. (2017). Applied Social Psychology: Understanding and addressing social and practical problems. SAGE.
This is a great post about individualism and collectivism. I think it’s awesome that your friend was able to show you what collectivism looks like first-hand. And I agree with you in that with a business it seems that collectivism could be great because it’s not a free for all instead it’s “preserving the integrity of the group, regardless of their own attitudes” (Gruman et. al., 2017). I feel as if businesses would be better off if they do what is best for the group compared to one individual, especially if it means satisfying the needs of everyone because people will be happier to work if they know that all of their needs will be met as a collective team. I do however agree that collectivism could not work for me outside of work. I would not be comfortable with my family deciding who I should marry because that is such an intimate decision and the family wouldn’t even be with the person nearly as much as you are.
Gruman, J. A., Schneider, F. W., & Coutts, L. M. (Eds.). (2016). Applied social psychology : Understanding and addressing social and practical problems. SAGE Publications.
I completely agree with this idea that there is an ideal balance of individualism and collectivism. Collectivism really does seem to work well in places like work environments or larger social situations as you had mentioned. I also think that it could be argued that collectivism can be detrimental on a smaller scale like in families. Your point could be boiled down even further to involve the nature vs. nurture debate. Some people that are raised in a family that practices collectivism are completely fine with the idea. There are also some people that are raised in a family that practices collectivism that are not content with the lifestyle. This would seem to back up the theory that how we think and act are a combination of nature and nurture. We are all born with different personalities and different brain chemistries. As it was mentioned in the text as part of the definition of culture, culture has the potential to change over time (Gruman et al. 2016).
Gruman, J. A., Schneider, F. W., & Coutts, L. M. (Eds.). (2016). Applied social psychology : Understanding and addressing social and practical problems. SAGE Publications.