Individualism-Collectivism Revisited

The constructs individualism and collectivism have been exten sively researched and written about by cross-cultural psychologists and seem to be widely accepted as important bases for explaining differences in behavior between people of diverse cultures. However, existing research evidence seems to raise questions about some specific characteristics identified as typical of individualist or collectivist behavior. Therefore, a study was undertaken to reexamine some aspects of these constructs. As fitting emic-type studies, the study was based on just two cultures, Australian and Sri Lankan, each representing one of these dimensions. The results distinguish broadly between individualist and collectivist orientation and confirm earlier evidence that self-reliance, long considered to be uniquely individualist, is an important attribute among collectivist cultures also. Clarity in conceptualization and refinement of measurement is suggested.

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