Individualistic culture Puns

In the United Stares, religious diversity or the lack thereof quite common within families. As the general American culture is very individualistic, and thus there is more of an emphasis on the person’s needs over their family/community.

For example, you could easily have the parents be part of some evangelical sect, one of their kids joining Mormonism, their second being a non denominational Christian that drifts from church to church, and the last be an agnostic flirting with Buddhism.

However, this would have been almost completely unheard off centuries and thousands of years ago. As usually a person’s religion was dictated by their surrounding communities. For example, if someone lived in pre Colombian Mesoamerica, they’ll follow their city state’s patron deity, in the Byzantine empire one would be part of the Greek Orthodox Church, in Medieval Japan a person would likely observe a synchronization of Shinto and Buddhism, under Arabic and Berber Caliphates one would generally be a Muslim, etc.

In Latin America, to what extent does individualism play a role in religious affiliation/lack thereof? Or are people more likely to follow whatever their family and peers are part of?

My wife w/BPD is not from the U.S. where we both now live. I'm from the States, and she's constantly badmouthing the culture and people here. I mean obviously no country or culture is perfect, but the things she says gets me so agitated:

"No one wants to be my friend here. Everyone is so sickening and selfish. Americans just want to be all individualistic (she says with disdain) and there's no concept of community."

She's from a country that, to her credit, probably does strongly support the idea of community, family values, etc. but I can pretty much guarantee you that when she lived there, she was likely making life hell for her family and community. Yes, they were "there for her" perhaps better than my family is (as my family is often scared of her), but I doubt her family enjoyed supporting her that much. If they had, I probably would have been getting calls from them like: "Hey I hear she's miserable, what's going on, what's wrong with you and your family, with people in your country." - but they aren't saying that to me. She's probably been a big burden to them long before I met her.

I don't want to be a super-annoying patriotic person in denial of cultural issues, or her sense of loneliness. Yet, it's hard to be humble and listen to this when the accusations are so harsh, bitter, and never-ending.

Does anyone else have a similar story, or maybe a partner w/BPD who complains about the city or region you live?

It's really hard, because we all know there are legitimate stories of people who have a right to say they're lonely, that they're in a selfish culture and whatnot... but then we know our Borderlines and how nothing's good enough too. The US may be individualistic, but having a BPD spouse makes me think: yeah that's a good thing, since it promotes growing up and taking care of oneself.

From my encounters online, I’ve met a fair amount of Brazilians and pretty much all of them tend to be lovely, laid back people, but one of the more striking attributes that they have (or lack, rather) is their lack of essentialism when communicating with others or expressing themselves in general.

As an American with my own experiences with American culture and subsequently communicating with other Americans, the room for individuality is narrow and the essentialism espoused makes authentic expression suffocating, accompanied with heavy gatekeeping about how people express themselves or live their life. From your perceived “race” to a slew of other arbitrary attributes such as sexual orientation and gender being the only things Americans see you as instead of a person,

people at some point will judge you in accordance to the stereotypes of your arbitrary attributes instead of your actual personality or individuality. The essentialism and regulation gets so intense that words suddenly have different definitions based not on context and meaning but what a person looks like.

With Brazilians I have not noticed any sort of behaviour similar to this at all, and it’s given me quite a pleasant impression of Brazil as a culture. I have not been to Brazil personally or learned to speak Portuguese yet but because this topic was on my mind, I wanted to ask other Brazilians what they think about their culture and nation’s identity in this context. I also wanted to see if my impression was correct or not and start a discussion about it. Cheers.

I'm doing an essay on the challenges CPS workers have when working with refugee communities as part of my Juvenile Justice and Child Protection unit at uni. I chose the essay topic btw since I want to work with refugees.

My point is I've been reading a lot about collectivist values and also how the collectivist - individualistic culture is on more of a spectrum. It's making me wonder about fundies...

Is there a big thing about bringing "shame" to the family name? Whereby disclosing abuse would result in the family being shunned by the community or at bare minimum effect their chances of getting married? Not just the "value of virginity" because I know fundies valire that.

Where I live they believe “it takes a village to raise a child,” and that’s how I’ve grown up. Spending holidays with aunts and uncles, Christmas with grandparents, playing with cousins, working with family etc etc. You’re born as a piece of a puzzle and obligated to keep that puzzle intact until you die. I often see Americans romanticizing “communal societies” particularly those in Asian cultures, but as someone that has grown up in one, I think it’s a terrible idea and ultimately only detrimental to ones wellbeing. What these cultures do is dictate who you’re supposed to be, how you’re supposed to act, and pretty much leave children at the mercy of an endless array of abusers and fucked up ideologies (like FGM). You are not allowed to be different, in any way. Be it religion, sexuality, clothing, lifestyle etc. And valuing family above all else only justifies the covering up of abuse and protecting of abusers. I’ve spent some time in the States and the difference was so refreshing. Feeling like I could be who I wanted, do what I want, and generally living in a place that’s diverse and individualistic enough for me to fit in. Sure, I met a lot of lonely people and selfish people but that exists everywhere. Anyway, I have nothing but resentment over my upbringing, and I know that I will never force antiquated culture or unhealed family upon my own children.

Just wanted to express that.

It seems to be conventional wisdom that western culture is more individualistic, and other cultures around the world (and particularly in Asia) are more collectivist. This general difference is often invoked to explain news stories about events that happen in other countries, or differences in attitudes to, for example, mask wearing or minority rights.

I've put individualistic in quotes in the title because my main disagreement is with that word specifically. I would never deny that there are huge numbers of differences between cultures, my issue is that I'm skeptical that these differences form clear patterns that can be summed up as collectivism Vs individualism.

To be convinced that the collectivism/individualism divide was a real thing, I would need to be shown that it has predictive power. In other words, I would need to see that many smaller cultural differences correlate together in ways that could be explained by a general pro-individual or pro-collective attitude. This way, you could tell me that one culture is more individualistic than another and I would know what that means in terms of their cultural attitudes on a variety of topics.

I also want to clarify that I'm talking about cultural differences rather than political ones, so I'm more interested in people's attitudes and opinions rather than laws and policies (which may have more to do with the interests of the people in power, rather than the culture of the general population).

I was originally going to go into more detail on a few specific issues which people might bring up as examples of individualism Vs collectivism, such as gay rights, gun rights, national service, mask wearing etc. As I was writing it though, I realized I actually have no idea what kinds of examples people will bring up. This supposed difference is invoked so often in conversations about such a wide variety of topics, and I suspect that different people think of very different things when they talk about "individualism".

I hate feeling like I should only contact someone if I have a reason to beyond just wanting to talk because I might bother them. I hate how hardly anyone knows their neighbors anymore. I hate how our media has become so individualized that it’s hard to connect with someone over a show or movie because they probably haven’t seen it. I hate how everyone seems so selfish and has little time for anybody. I hate how it’s everyone for themselves.

There are more examples but you probably get the point. Also, I know sometimes the things above can be good things. I just feel like this has all led to a population that’s deeply lonely and it’s been going on long before the pandemic started.

I've lived through several pandemics: mad cow disease, bird flu, swine flu, Ebola. But in every case I remember the response being generally "on it" as opposed to this dragged out, half-assed response to COVID in America. And I certainly don't remember such a loud cry of "MUH RIGHTS" or people wholeheartedly believing that the pandemic was a conspiratorial hoax.

I think a part of it is that so many people are tying their identity to their politics much more strongly than ever before. Look at the cult of personality that's formed around Trump - he says "masks are bad and the pandemic is bullshit" and his boot-lickers lap it all up. Elon Musk mumbles "the pandemic is bullshit" and his sycophants sing his praises. And I get the impression that lots of people have turned to individualism as a form of coping mechanism - we're facing global climate change catastrophe (the final exam, the ultimate test of what we can do to deal with a crisis) and we're retreating into a sense of entitlement (muh rights) because it's all we've really known. But that way of thinking has been failing us, and is showing its last signs that it's all about to collapse from beneath us. But we keep peddling away, convinced that the problem isn't even there.

Anyway, this became a lot more rant-y than I expected. And I'm probably projecting a fair amount, as I can't point to a single source that proves what I've been feeling. Instead, I've been pulling from a variety of places, and this is the impression I've been getting from this whole bonanza.

So I'm now a visual arts major that was involved on street art and graffiti culture on my teenage years and early 20s. I enjoyed the practice becouse it gave me a space where I could show my work and watch people interact with it on their daily lives. Later when I started studying arts, it gave me a space of freedom to work outside the limitations of galleries and artshows.

My approach was always experimental and even as a teenager I was more interested on stencil, wheatpaste and freestyle complex drawing rather than on lettering and tags. But I admired and enjoyed the technique of the more "traditional writers".

But as time progressed, I was getting more into the culture and meeting this writers and taggers. And I was MASSIVELY dissapointed. I found that it was a mainly male population obsessed with a bragadaccio idea of street power and macho courage. They were often violent and defensive about spots and popularity. And most of them didn't even care about creativity, they mostly cared about "writer tradition" and copying styles.

So, now every time I see a bomb piece or a tag, I can only think that they are cute selfpromotion signs created by a selfobsessed culture.

Maybe Im just bitter? Please show me the ways I'm wrong, so maybe I can go back to my teenage years enjoying street tags.

EDIT> 29/06/2020

In this point I will stop answering as OP becouse its been a really long thread. But all the ideas shared here are really interesting. I sure am glad about engaging on this conversation, and Ive learned a lot. This has been wonderful.

Im going to share some bulletpoints that I personally consider common grounds and enlightning perspectives in this conversation.

1. Many of this competitive/authoritarian/powerobsessed traits come from a systematic issue of domination. People reproducing this traits, mostly dont realize they are been used by hegemony.
2. Even if theres lots of this going on on graffiti, one can take this as a mirror of society, and even if it can be sad, it is really interesting to see this going on around you.
3. We should be the change we want to see around us. I am super encouraged to create new different art to go against what I consider to be the mainstream.

I am trying my best to fit in and try to understand the American Culture as a foreigner in the USA. I come from a collectivistic culture and for us it is pretty common to find millenials and even baby boomers living with their parents. I know that this is not the case in the US. I also know that everyone here identifies as an individual leading their own lives. I am trying to get an insight into how do relationships with family and friends work in an individualistic country?

Well, now it has happened. First Italy. And now Austria has gone into full national lockdown. Other European countries will probably follow soon. For the most part it has gone smoothly and peacefully. No mass riots. No looting. No civil unrest. Most of the population is cooperative and fully behind the government's decision (even if they were resistant at first). There is a spirit of unity and solidarity that the country hasn't seen in decades.

Honestly, I was not expecting this. Austria has slightly restored my faith in humanity. And the West in particular.

Spain: https://forms.gle/ENLQs8KCbCESKEHSA

Malaysia: https://forms.gle/Pb7TLrbVhdZPqMxm9

English: https://forms.gle/WHMUHus4JKvrnHKq7

TL;DR: How does anarchism contend with “Karens” and those similarly “entitled?”

Disclaimer 1: I’m very new to Anarchism. Just starting to learn. But, I’m eager to hear the insights of those who have been thinking about these concepts for awhile.

Disclaimer 2: I’m operating with a very generic definition of “Anarchist community” here. I understand anarchism to promote social order without hierarchies. So, no ruling class, no top down authorities, no bosses, no chiefs, etc etc etc. Nevertheless “order” exists because the work of keeping humans clothed, fed, sheltered, entertained, educated, is still accomplished. The details of how that gets done can vary, but that’s the main idea, right? (Apologies in advance if that’s not accurate to what I should be thinking about when I think of anarchism. I know it lacks nuance and I don’t intend to demean the concept through caricature)

The problem: Anarchy has no way to “herd cats” without some kind of top-down imposition.

Summary of the Problem (as I view it):

1. I take it for granted that nowadays humans live in an age in which individuals are celebrated and championed above all else. I don’t deny that there are outlying cultures and communities here and there. But, by and large, the “my way, right away” mindset is supreme (especially in the US) and only becoming more prevalent as we receive tailor-made solutions to our human needs through technology and science. One example: Want clothes? Order these special clothes, made special in your size, sent especially to your door, paid for with your own special credit card, tied to your individual bank account, created with your unique identification, and wear them to be uniquely YOU. We could do this with a million different examples, but you get the idea: Individualism is “baked in” to our culture like never before.

2. For the sake of brevity, I won’t give similar examples about egalitarianism, but the point can also be made: Unequal relationships are “baked in” to our culture, and they go deep. Think: parent/child.

3. Ok. Thought experiment time. You and I and everyone else in our town just threw off the yoke of oppression and now we’re getting down to the business of getting everyone all the stuff they need to live.

4. New order of business: We all agree that children should receive a “basic education.” This seems uncontroversial, right? Ok, next question, what does that basic education necessarily entail? Let’s just leave it there: can we all agree on

This is consistent with some claims by Bryan Caplan, and perhaps contra what used to be called the new Democratic demographic strategy:

We investigate the relationship between ethnic diversity and the rise of individualism in the United States during the 20th and 21st centuries. Tests of the historical rates of ethnic diversity alongside individualistic relational structures (e.g., adults living alone, single-/multi-child families) from the years 1950 to 2018 reveal that societal and regional rates of ethnic diversity accompanied individualistic relational structures. These effects hold above and beyond time-series trends in each variable. Further evidence from experimental studies (N = 707) suggests that the presence of, and contact with, ethnically diverse others contributes to greater individualistic values (e.g., the importance of uniqueness and personal achievement). Converging evidence across societal-, regional-, and individual-level analyses suggests a systematic link between ethnic diversity and individualism. We discuss the implications of these findings for sociocultural livelihood in light of the rising rates of ethnic diversity across the globe.

That is from a new paper by Alex C. Huhnh and Igor Grossman.  Via the excellent Kevin Lewis.

The post Rising Ethnic Diversity in the United States Accompanies Shifts Toward an Individualistic Culture appeared first on Marginal REVOLUTION.

According to Hofstede.

Like, a lot of eastern countries are collective whereas western countries are individualistic