IAT206 D104
Suyawen Hao
301187813
Introduction
When people think about the American culture, images of Coca-Cola, hot dogs and baseball games come to mind. However there is a deeper side to American culture than Hollywood and Disney World.
Individualism is a core of American culture and the main value in America. It has been influencing all the fields of society, economics, politics and culture. It has played an enormous and far-reaching effect to shape the character of the American nation.
In an era of globalization, it is necessary to interact various cultures with different types of characters for our comic book corporation. In this paper, I would like to analysis American individualism culture in order to integrate the culture into a Japanese character.
Key concepts: value, personality, responsibility, education, freedom, family, society, memory, identity, innovation,
Key value of individualism
Individualistic cultures in America are self-centred and emphasize mostly on their individual goals. It is the view that each person has moral significance and certain rights that are either of divine origin or inherent in human nature. Each individual exists, perceives, experiences, thinks, and acts in and through his own body and therefore from unique points in time and space. (Younkins, 1998)
They believe each individual’s life belongs to himself and he has an inalienable right to live it as he sees fit, to act on his own judgment, to keep and use the product of his effort, and to pursue the values of his choosing. This is the ideal that the American Founders set forth and sought to establish when they drafted the Declaration and the Constitution and created a country in which the individual’s rights to life, liberty, property, and the pursuit of happiness were to be recognized and protected. (Biddle, n.d.)
Major differences between individualism and collectivism
An individualistic culture based on the tenants of freedom, individualism, and self-reliance. In this culture, people are considered “good” if they are strong, assertive, and independent. This contrasts with collectivistic cultures where characteristics like being self-sacrificing, dependable, generous, and helpful to others are of greater importance. Therefore, most people who grew up in American are thought to be individualists, motivated by what is good for them personally, and independent and self-reliant. Most people who grew up in Japan, on the other hand, are thought to be collectivists, motivated by the good of the group, relying on others and placing priority on the group rather than self.
Most Japanese pay attention to the importance of the family, the hierarchical structure of social life, the cultivation of morality and self-restraint and the emphasis on hard work and achievement. Japanese culture describes the human characteristic of on a deep level thinking in a way where the social institution or group, such as a family, workplace or even entire society, is prioritized higher than the individual self when compared to an individual who is more individualistic. Collectivistic individuals are likely to more often value highly what is best for the social institutions that he or she belongs to over personal ambitions and goals when compared to an individual who is more individualistic. In this sense, it is more common for an individual who is more collectivistic to sacrifice own ambitions for the sake of a group’s best.
In individualist cultures, individual uniqueness and self-determination is valued. A person is all the more admirable if they are a “self-made man” or “makes up their own mind” or show initiative or work well independently. Collectivist cultures, on the other hand, expect people to identify with and work well in groups which protect them in exchange for loyalty and compliance. Individualist cultures tend to believe that there are universal values that should be shared by all, while collectivist cultures tend to accept that different groups have different values.
Ethically speaking, there are a number of problems with collectivism. For instance, because the collective is seen as having an importance higher than the individuals that make it up, those same individuals are asked to sacrifice for it. It is created into an intrinsic value, and destroys one’s ability to rationally pursue one’s own self-interest. It also interferes with justice. Justice is concerned with making moral judgments about other people and acting accordingly. But collectivism destroys proper moral judgment by attributing value choices to the whole group, instead of the person making the choice.
Individualism is the proper approach to this problem. Moral judgments are made by moral agents. The person making the decision gets credit or blame for it. Values are agent-relative, and the person makes his choices by seeing how the value impacts his life. It is the individual that ethics is concerned with, and collectivism just obscures this point.
Comparison Examples
In some situations such as how likely someone is to ask a bus driver to wait for an acquaintance who is late for the bus can be effectively connected to individualism vs. collectivism; naturally someone more collectivistic would be less likely to ask the driver to wait since he or she would likely prioritize the other passengers of the bus as a form of social institution higher. A more individualistic person, on the other hand, would be more likely to be more concerned of his or her personal company, the acquaintance who would otherwise have to wait for the next bus. (Rudenstam, 2012)
The differences between individualism and collectivism can often have different impacts on the amount of time a given task may take. For example, a market research firm conducted a survey of tourist agencies around the world. The questionnaires came back from most countries in less than a month. But the agencies in Japan took months to do it. After many requests, it was finally done. The reason was that, American tourist agencies assigned the work to one person, while the Japanese delegated the work to the entire department, which took longer. The researchers also noticed that the replies from the Japanese always came from a different person. (“Cultural Differences – Individualism versus Collectivism”, n.d.)
Individual Choice and Personal Responsibility
One of the most attractive character of American individualists is their independent personality. The individualistic view of people as independent units leads to emphasis on a range of self-oriented values and skills that support independent living. These values include self-sufficiency, self-determination, self-advocacy, self-competence, self-direction, self-efficacy, self-regulation, self-reliance, and self-responsibility. On the other hand, Japanese people as interdependent leads to emphasis on group-oriented values and skills that contribute to effectively filling roles within the family or other group. Instead of living independently or going away to college, the young adult may be expected to remain at home and fulfill roles within the family.
In the education of the United States, the American have trained young children’s
personality, encourage and motivate children self-reliance ever since their childhood. As if American children have to make money by themselves as long as they are 18 years old, while senior citizens are also quite used to living alone instead of sharing the house with their children.
From the earliest age in America, children are encouraged to develop their sense of individual identity, achievement, and responsibility. Many Americans give their newborn babies their own room and crib from the first day they come home from hospital. As the baby grows, every individual achievement is celebrated and encouraged at the youngest possible age, such as feeding himself, dressing himself, walking to a neighbour’s house, talking on the phone politely, etc.
More specifically, in the early morning, the mother puts baby infant daughter into the high legs chair and then to prepare breakfast. Mother selects different baby cereals and pasta. Every kind of packing and colours are distinct. Baby has to choose their favourite colour. This is a good way to encourage children to form their own views and make decisions. It is a training methods American use to educate their children and cultivate the unique personality of children. The United States attaches great importance to the eduction of the student’s personality development, pays attention to the cultivation of creativity, imagination and encourage students to have their own personality.
Moreover, when every individual achievement of childhood is celebrated and rewarded, it should be no surprise that generational conflicts start to come up in early teen years. Parents struggle to tame the “independence monster” they have helped to create, while the teenagers want to continue the individualistic path they have started on. Now their choices and achievements start to have more serious consequences. They have to make numerous decisions that might have major implications and effects on not just the individual, but the family, such as driving, dating, and college education.
Cultural also influences on human’s memory perspective. Different cultures can shape different memories of the past and influence the expectations about the future. As a result, American children’s memories tend to be expressive, detailed and lengthy, and they focus on the child as being the protagonist in the narrative and present the child in a positive light. In contrast, Japanese children’s memories were found to be general, skeletal, less emotional, more neutral in their expression, and focused on routine events, on collective activities, on social interactions, on others or relations with others.
In addition, American college students’ memories were discrete, focused on specific events, and the individual’s feelings, whereas Japanese college students’ memories were more general, about routine activities, and focusing on family and in-groups. Americans also stressed personal preferences and autonomy in lengthier narratives than the ones reported by the Japanese. (Zharku, 2011). These patterns are seen because individualism culture promotes autonomy and puts an emphasis on the individual’s qualities, and children in this culture are encouraged to stand out and talk about themselves.
Liberty and justice for all
The United States is known for having a strong bent towards individualism because it was founded by people who sought the freedom to practice whatever religion they chose. Those who prefer individualism often site fear of governmental control over their life decisions as reason for that inclination. An individualistic society depends upon the values of freedom and independence.
American historical traditions place a high value on individual freedom, on personal rights, and on allowing each person to “do her own thing.” In American individualistic culture it is difficult, perhaps impossible, to convince people that they should sacrifice some of their freedom, some of their personal goals and some of their self-interest.
Freedom is the natural condition of the individual. From birth, each person has the potential to think his own thoughts and control his own energies in his efforts to act according to those thoughts. People can initiate their own purposive action when they are free from manmade restraints—when there is an absence of coercion by other individuals, groups of people, or the government.
The American premise of “liberty and justice for all.” “All men are created equal” is one of the most famous quotations from the Declaration of Independence, and the value of equality is considered fundamental to the American spirit. This is evidenced by an explicit emphasis on equal rights in all aspects of American society and government.
Politically, individualists also claim that each individual has a right to his own life and happiness. But it also means uniting with other citizens to preserve and defend the institutions that protect that right. A belief in individualism also implies that they believe that the government should bud out of they individual affairs.
The individualistic political culture sees politics as a marketplace of competing individual interests who use the political system to better their own causes. Politicians and citizens are not interested in achieving a “good society” or furthering the common good, rather they are focused on private concerns. (Leckrone, 2013)
As a result, American unity is built on the individual’s pursuit of values. This pursuit requires a large amount of independence, initiative, and self-responsibility. A nation of individuals does not sacrifice for each other; individuals trade with each other in mutually beneficial ways. A nation of individuals does not seek to make every one responsible for each other; individuals are only responsible for themselves.
When governments and institutions that provide for our security and prosperity are threatened that individuals come together to protect them, and that they do it well. Because of their abilities in their private lives—for instance, their abundant self-responsibility and their initiative—these individuals have a great capacity to rise to the occasion and defend what is of great importance and value to them.
In this sense politics can be regarded as a ‘business’ for the Japanese character like any other that competes for talent and offers rewards to those who take it up as a career. He believes that an officeholder’s primary responsibility is to serve himself and those who have supported him directly, favouring them even at the expense of others.
Social status and social identity
Most Americans are fairly indifferent to the identity of social rank and belong themselves to the middle class. The idea of quality in the U.S. assumed that everyone has equal opportunities rather than social positions. That means each person has equal chance to achieve his success.
Meanwhile, the right to privacy is a notion that runs deep in American culture. It’s something to be both respected and defended, and is considered fundamental to a free society. It is sometimes difficult to ascertain the boundaries of the privacy. Three questions that seem to violate the privacy rule are: How old are you? How much money
do you make? and How much do you weigh? Americans may even hesitate to ask these questions to close friends.
In general, one of the first questions that Americans ask each other when they meet is, “What do you do?” This is a common question because most people in the U.S. define who they are by the work they do. In Japanese cultures, people might define themselves in relation to family lineage and social status. The community or the nation is valued above the individual and an individual’s role in the political and economic life of his community is largely determined by his membership in a specific class or caste. But for many people in the U.S., “you are what you do.” Work is a central part of a person’s identity.
In many collectivistic cultures, people of high social status may be seen as holding important cultural and technological knowledge. This knowledge may have traditionally been memorized and transmitted orally. Much of this knowledge may be reserved only for people who have passed ceremonial milestones or belong to a restricted group, so that they can effectively fill their social roles. It may be considered disrespectful for children to express their opinions to or ask many questions of their elders. Instead they may be expected to absorb and then reflect back the knowledge provided to them by their elders, who determine when youngsters are ready to learn. In individualistic cultures, it is more likely that children are encouraged to form and express opinions and to seek knowledge at a pace they self-determine. An important individualistic value is that knowledge should be freely available to anyone who wants it.
Competition and innovation in business world
Innovations are defined in this paper as the new technical products, scientific knowledge, application methods, and tools that facilitate problem solving for potential adoption.
Individualistic and Collectivism is the most critical factor that affects innovation adoption(Steenkamp, Hofstede & Wedel 1999). An individualist society is characterized by reliance on personal beliefs in making decisions, and group norms are not strictly followed. On the other hand, group consensus is critical to decision making in collectivist societies (Wickliffe & Pysarchik 2001). In individualist societies, people tend to be involved in several “out-group” that affect their decisions in the long-term; while collectivist societies are linked to one “in-group” that affects their decisions in the short-term (Harris & Nibler 1998).
Japan, Singapore, South Korea, Sweden, and Taiwan are all examples of national cultures which rank as both highly institutional collective and highly innovative. Such countries have people who often value loyalty to a corporation, university or nation far more than local “tribes” or themselves as individuals. They still have to sacrifice at the expense of the individual allows their societies to take the risks and make the hard sacrifices to innovate. (Hsu,2012)
Because people in individualistic cultures can be allowed or even encouraged to make choices based on what is best individually, while people in collectivistic cultures are more likely to be expected to give priority to what is best for the group.
On the other side, individualism have a strong, significant, and positive effect on innovation. It awards social status to personal accomplishments such as important discoveries, innovations, or great artistic achievements. Because of the emphasis on the individual, Americans can be competitive, and to be called a high achiever in the U.S. is quite a compliment. Besides, individualism stress uniqueness. In American, each individual is seen as completely an marvellously unique. People are encouraged to express themselves in unique ways. Because the culture values individuality, Americans admire those who do something new and innovative. Perhaps this is one reason why a large number of new ideas including technological inventions, artistic and musical movements come from this country.
According to research that countries having a more individualist culture have enjoyed higher long-run growth than countries with a more collectivist culture. Individualist culture attaches social status rewards to personal achievements and thus, provides not only monetary incentives for innovation but also social status rewards, leading to higher rates of innovation and economic growth.
Americans love to celebrate an individual-minded U.S. culture that has produced great innovators such as Thomas Edison or Steve Jobs. In our case, the character can be assumed as a Japanese who loves to celebrate an individual-minded Japanese culture.
That spirit of individualism allowed Americans to be pioneers in fields such as science and technology—Benjamin Franklin and Thomas Jefferson were scientists and inventors—industry, entertainment, and every other field that contributes to life and prosperity.
As the world is moving toward the intense individualism under the leadership of America, the barrier to entry in business and mass communication has almost disappeared. In the business world, employees are expected to be self-reliant and display initiative. Americans are not shy about approaching their prospective counterparts in order to obtain or seek information. American individualism highly values the freedom to choose for oneself. People are assumed to have free will, and from an early age they may be reminded that each choice has consequences for which they will be held personally responsible.
Individualism is characterized by engagement in competitive tasks, by public situations, and by an emphasis on what makes the individual distinct. In American individualism, people can show that they have valued characteristics, such as mastery of certain skills or being able to perform under pressure, by competing with and doing better than others.
Individualists emphasize their success and achievements in job or private wealth and aiming up to reach more and a better job position. Especially in the USA the fight about jobs and trying to climb up in the hierarchy ladder is something very common there. It just counts to get there less caring who will left behind one. In business they try to improve their connections and to gain more value out of them, not for establishing a good relationship but just to be involved in a calculative way.
Based on personal equality, individual competition then has evolved into a life attitude throughout the daily life of the American people. In the United States, a fair social competition is protected by both political principles and organizational structures, ensuring an advantageous environment for personal equally competition.
In Japanese culture a direct confrontation will always be avoided. Expressions or phrases are used which describe a disagreement or negative statement instead of saying no. Saying ‘no’ would be tantamount to destroy in harmony in the group. The relationship between the groups or business partners is based on trust and harmony and a deep understanding of moral values. The wealth of the groups inside are more important than the individual’s.
The Japanese character in our comic book can be challenged in their ability to understand someone else’s point of view because he is part of a culture that encourages individualism now. Other than ordinary Japanese that encourages a collectivist attitude among its members, are much more adept at determining another person’s perspective.
Importance of family and group
Individualism is mostly seen in the cultures of Western Europe and North America, whereas collectivism is mostly seen in the cultures of Asia and Africa. The emphasis on one or another starts in the family, even with the very structure of the family: a large, multigenerational one emphasizes collectivism, whereas a smaller, nuclear family emphasizes individualism (Triandis, 1993).
Culture influences how decisions are made within a family. In traditional Japanese cultures, there is likely to be a social hierarchy based on gender, birth order, and age. Family elders may be highly respected, and they often have roles of authority with responsibility to make sure family members do what is best for the family rather than what is best for themselves as individuals. Elders may have final say about how far their children go in school, who they marry, or where they work. Decisions are likely to be obeyed with less questioning than is typical in individualistic cultures.
Individualism, they maintain, decreases the authority of kin. In American, the ideal is for all people to be able to freely make their own decisions. The opinions of family elders may be respected, but as youth enter adulthood, they expect and are expected to make decisions about their own lives. Individual rights encourage individual choices and so marriages are contracted on the basis of affection rather than calculation. Family life becomes conjugally centered. Democracy in the family accompanies democracy in society. The equality of husband and wife promotes their empathy and friendship. Their conjugal isolation makes their communication and companionship unique and precious.
It is typical of an individual who is relatively individualistic to prioritize individual ambitions to a higher degree and strive to fulfill such ambitions even if it not necessarily equates working toward what is best for his or her related social institutions as wholes.
According to a survey, one who is more individualistic would be more likely to engage in a divorce when compared to a collectivistic individual, since the individual is likely to value personal well-being higher. A more collectivistic individual would conversely naturally be more inclined toward enduring the marriage for the sake of the family as a social institution. This obviously becomes most evident in families with young children where a divorce might result in negative consequences for a child’s upbringing. The United States is one of the best examples of a country with culture in which individuals often are regarded more individualistic.
Does the individual’s life belong to him, or does it belong to the group, the community, society, or the state? In Japanese cultures, individuals are not free to make their own choices; they must consult and obey their elders. The needs and considerations of family, clan, and community come first. Individualism is viewed as selfishness and rebellion. This is because most Japanese consider that the individual’s life belongs not to him but to the group or society of which he is merely a part, that he has no rights, and that he must sacrifice his values and goals for the group’s “greater good.” The group or society is the basic unit of moral concern, and the individual is of value only insofar as he serves the group.
However, the majority of American enters into society to further his or her own interests, or at least demands the right to serve his or her own interests, without taking the interests of society into consideration. People from individualistic cultures tend to think only of themselves as individuals and as “I” distinctive from other people. This is contrasted with the values from Japan, which have a group orientation. Since individualism to Americans means the freedom to “choose my own way,” make my own decisions, based on my own criteria, as well as the responsibility to personally accept the consequences of my own choices. Objectivism also supports individualism in this sense. Individualism is meant to be whether the individual is different from everyone else, or whether he makes up his own mind about things, or what-not.
But in the individualist-collectivist sense of the term, individualism just means that the individual is a separate entity, making his own choices, thinking his own thoughts, and responsible for his own choices. People are seen as independent and autonomous. The individualist does not believe in any philosophy that requires the sacrifice of the self-interest of the individual for any higher social causes. Societies and groups can differ, in the extent to which they are based upon predominantly “self-regarding” rather than “other-regarding” behaviour.
Thus, in Japanese collectivist societies people belong to ‘in groups’ that take care of them in exchange for loyalty. The society depends on group harmony and consensus. On the contrary, people in America are supposed to look after themselves and their direct family only. Some people claim an individualistic ideology as selfish and self-centred. But, in view of the individualism, this is the way of their life by which a person places his or her own desires, needs, and comforts above the needs of a broader community. This does not mean that Americans have no concern for other people, but it does mean that they give high priority to their personal ambitions. Because individualists think “the good society” is one in which individuals are left free to pursue their private satisfactions independently of others, a pattern of thinking that emphasizes individual achievement and self-fulfillment.
Conclusion
In this paper, I analysis the difference between American individualistic and Japanese collectivistic societies, and how they impact people’s personalities and values. Americans are one civilization held together by many cultures such as Muslims, Jews, Christians, Buddhists and other ethnic groups. Different cultures embody specific values, or thoughts or ideas that they view as important. Values play a central role in determining if a culture is individualistic or collectivistic.
In a world of increasing complexity and interdependence, we can no longer afford local cultures in a single market for our culture product. Rather, we need to exercise our capacity for developing multi-culture products that explore the interconnectedness of the world. As some of the youth in Japan attempt to appropriate parts of American culture nowadays, I also tried to create a Japanese character through grasping at the allure of this foreign aesthetic.
References:
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Hsu.J. (2012) Study: Individualistic, Patriotic Cultures Are Most Innovative. Retrieved from http://www.nbcnews.com/id/47191107/ns/technology_and_science-innovation/t/study-individualistic-patriotic-cultures-are-most-innovative/
Leckrone.W.(2013, Dec) State and Local Political Culture. Retrieved from http://theamericanpartnership.com/tag/elazars-political-culture/
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Younkins.E. (1998, Jan). Individualism and Freedom: Vital Pillars of True Communities. Retrieved from http://fee.org/freeman/detail/individualism-and-freedom-vital-pillars-of-true-communities
Zharku.I. (2011). Effects of Collectivistic and Individualistic Cultures on Imagination Inflation in Eastern and Western Cultures. Retrieved from http://www.studentpulse.com/articles/385/effects-of-collectivistic-and-individualistic-cultures-on-imagination-inflation-in-eastern-and-western-cultures
[ Untitled image of My Way].[n.d.]. Retrieved from http://davidould.net/wp-content/uploads/2013/01/individualism.jpg
[ Untitled image of Yellow umbrella].[n.d.]. Retrieved from http://wallpapers.free-review.net/wallpapers/21/Individualism.jpg
[ Untitled image of Steve Jobs].[n.d.]. Retrieved from http://www.hdwallpapersinn.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/08/steve-jobs-31.jpg
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