I’d like to first address the meaning of individualism and collectivism. Collectivism– is more of a group rather than an individual who is at the centre of all social, political, and economic concerns, and issues. Individualism– the focus of all thinking in individualism is the individual.
A great example to grasp the understanding of these 2 terms, would be an example about race. Think about racism. It’s a good example of collectivism where the good or bad an individual of a particular group has done is attributed to the whole group. Think that there is a family who considers their race to be superior to their neighbours who come from a different race. This family forbids their children to be friendly with the neighbours. However, one child refuses to accept that their neighbours are inferior because of their skin color and he goes on to be friendly with the neighbours. This is an example of individualism. The individual within the group takes his own decisions.
Some people say that individualism tends to be more selfish and heartless, but if you think about the circumstances being set by the collectivists, like in that race example, the group chose to look down upon the darker skin color, while that one person sets himself apart responding to the situation in a more compassionate way than the group.
Thanks for reading this essay. I hope you enjoyed reading it or learned something new from it and as always have a blessed rest of your day!
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