Though it may seem like a distant memory, roughly four years ago, governments around the world were urging, begging, and at times, forcing their citizens to stay home and abide by protective measures to combat the unprecedented Covid-19 pandemic (Spiro, 2021). Prior to vaccinations, government-initiated non-pharmaceutical interventions greatly relied on citizens’ adherence to restrictive policies as the primary source for containing the virus (Huang et al., 2022).
While some countries exited the pandemic in better standing than others, researchers began to discover that the culture of a country’s citizens was a significant factor in its success during Covid-19 (Spiro, 2021). An apparent cultural explanation for the disparity in fatalities amongst countries is the public’s willingness to sacrifice and support the common good by adhering to health guidelines (Spiro, 2021).
This idea falls under Hofstede’s theory of individualism and collectivism (Gruman et al., 2016). According to this principle, someone with an individualistic orientation, or an idiocentric, will follow their own goals regardless of the opinions of others (Gruman et al., 2016). In contrast, someone with a collectivistic orientation, or an allocentric, will do what is seen as best for the group, even when that means giving up personal goals (Gruman et al., 2016). Interestingly, societies often reflect certain values and preferences that conform and identify the majority of their people to either individualism or collectivism (Gruman et al., 2016). For instance, the United States and Canada generally follow individualistic tendencies while Japan and India are considered collectivistic societies (Gruman et al., 2016).
Researchers took Hofstede’s ideas and applied them to the Covid-19 pandemic to see if there were any correlations. The results overwhelmingly showed that countries with collectivistic societies had greater success in battling the pandemic (Huang et al., 2022; Spiro, 2021). In fact, a study done at Israel’s IDC Herzliya and Yale University looked at data from 69 countries and the relationships between their cultures and the impact of Covid-19 and found a clear correlation between the level of individualism within a country’s culture and the more Covid-19 cases and deaths that occurred (Maaravi et al., 2021). Countries that rated high in both individualism and high mortality rates include the U.S., the U.K., and Belgium while oppositely, countries with higher levels of collectivism and lower mortality rates included Thailand, Singapore, and South Korea (Maaravi et al., 2021). Additionally, they found a correlation between prevention measures at a personal level concluding that the more individualistic people were, the higher their chances of not adhering to pandemic prevention measures (Maaravi et al., 2021).
It is important to take note of the vast differences among cultural responses to the Covid-19 pandemic when assessing best practices for global strategy and communication (Spiro, 2022). Recognizing the connection between culture and collective behavior during the pandemic provides valuable insights that can inform not only public health response but also long-term strategies for global collaboration and the understanding of diversity and diverse societies.
References
Gruman, J. A., Schneider, F. W., & Coutts, L. M. (Eds.). (2016). Applied social psychology : Understanding and addressing social and practical problems. SAGE Publications, Incorporated.
Huang, L., Li, O.Z., Wang, B. et al. Individualism and the fight against COVID-19. Humanit Soc Sci Commun 9, 120 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1057/s41599-022-01124-5
Maaravi, Y., Levy, A., Gur, T., Confino, D., & Segal, S. (2021). “The Tragedy of the Commons”: How Individualism and Collectivism Affected the Spread of the COVID-19 Pandemic. Frontiers in public health, 9, 627559. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpubh.2021.627559
Spiro, J. (2021, May 27). Individualism vs. collectivism: How a country’s culture determined the severity of covid-19. Ctech. https://m.calcalistech.com/Article.aspx?guid=3895499
Hello!
This is a great explanation of how individualism & collectivism helps us understand why different countries responded to the Covid-19 pandemic in so many different ways. The study you reference reiterates what is in our text about how more collectivist cultures are willing to go out of their way to do what is necessarey for the better of the group (Gruman et al., 2016). In this case, they did better at managing the virus because people were more willing to follow health guidelines for the good of the group. This is extremely important for thinking about how we can plan better global health strategies in the future, especially by taking into account how different cultures behave & communicate in different ways.
Thank you for sharing!
RMT