Collectivist And Individualist Cultures Explained

This talk goes over some of the advantages and potential drawbacks of both Collectivist cultures (which have influenced many of the spiritual disciplines we practice today such as Yoga, Buddhism, and Taoism) and Individualist cultures (which have contributed to the massive self-development industries popular today).

Also discussed is a way to find a happy balance between both influences.

Transcript

Hey this is Ishar and today I want to talk to you a bit about collectivist cultures and also individualistic cultures and what you can learn from both of these cultures and some of the advantages and also some of the drawbacks from each and how you can also find balance.

So it's important to know how belonging in each of these cultures may affect you so you can ideally navigate through life with better set of tools and understanding.

So I find this topic pretty fascinating as my cultural background is a bit of both so I may feed in both worlds.

So I was born in Singapore and I'm of Indian descent which tends to be more collectivist yet I also live in America which is rated across the board as the highest in individualistic cultures.

I've also spent years studying from different traditions that come from these cultures.

So from the collectivist path you have amazing spiritual disciplines like yoga and you have Daoism and Buddhism for example.

And then from the more individualistic cultures you have the personal growth movement and creating your own reality and other content related to improving oneself as an individual in a society.

So I want to share my thoughts.

So let's go over collectivist cultures.

So what is that?

That's where you prioritize a family or society or greater community.

So everything's in service of that.

And there's a big emphasis in these cultures on fitting in and blending in with others.

So you may have observed this if you've ever gone on a Zen Buddhist retreat you may have observed that there is a lot of structure there.

Everyone tends to dress in dark colors,

Black,

And you eat food at the same time,

You perform certain rituals and bowing at the same time just like everyone else.

Everyone may be assigned different roles that contribute to the greater atmosphere.

And when this collectivist culture goes right,

One thing it does is that it fosters community harmony and belonging.

So you feel like you belong to a greater whole whether it's a family or a community or something larger and each individual also gets taken care of because they belong to this identity of a group.

So if someone gets sick or you know you're taking care of the elderly,

Different family members or people in the group will take care of another without any question because they believe that this is their duty or obligation as part of being in a group.

And I think that when this is done right there is a life of community,

A life of peace,

Harmony where everyone supports each other and this is a very positive environment to be in.

And our life as human beings is made easier by the contributions that other people have made.

So the chair that you sit on was made by another person,

The house that you sit in were made by groups of people,

The roads that you drive on was built by someone else.

So when you belong to a collectivist type of culture you can recognize the contributions that other people make,

You belong to a group and if things are going well there's a lot of harmony there and you feel protected and safe.

Well now let's look at how this may go wrong.

So in this collectivist type of culture the group is valued and this also means honoring tradition which can be a beautiful thing.

However what this also means is that any attempts to individuate can be punished or judged or maybe even gossiped because any ideas to separate from the group or come up with your own thing as an individual doesn't really conform with the standards set by this group and especially if it's a long standing tradition there's really no room for innovation as much.

So as a result you may find personal creativity being suppressed or innovation or creating something new from the old.

So there is a resistance to change here.

And this collectivist type of culture may also have a bit of a prevention oriented mindset.

So what this means is that you are focused on minimizing mistakes versus focusing on gain.

So you may observe this when you read into Taoism which emerged from China,

A very collectivist culture.

So rather than get ahead and focus on gain you actually want to prevent losses.

This is also talked about in Buddhism as well.

And a funny saying you may hear in these cultures is,

You know,

Don't bring shame on the family.

And I've heard this a lot growing up because I did cause a lot of trouble.

And basically what this really means is that one person's identity reflects a group.

So what this means is that other people in the group may try to dissuade behaviors that aren't in line with what the group thinks about.

So there's a lot of grouping there.

And also there can be a lack of boundaries as there's a lot of closeness in these types of cultures.

So any semblance of privacy can also disappear too.

So I think one way to kind of find balance if you tend to be in a situation where you're expressing more of the downside of the collectivist type culture rather than the positive is learning about a bit more about individuation and learning about how to set healthy boundaries which may help if there's some codependency issues,

For example.

So this is taking more of a Western psychology route and you can also explore your freedoms a bit more.

And when you first start to do this it might feel like a constraint because you're so used to seeing what other people in the group may want.

So this can be helpful to explore freedom and in your own life.

So now let's talk about individualistic cultures.

As mentioned I live in America which is ranked as one of the top,

Like number one individualistic cultures out there.

And the Declaration of Independence,

A famous document,

Says that man has a right to life,

Liberty,

And pursuit of happiness.

And how America was founded was the settlers were breaking free from constraints and forging their own path.

And the basic idea behind this culture is the freedom to pursue whatever path in life that you want and live how you want.

So this type of culture tends to promote more of an entrepreneurial spirit.

So anyone today can form their own path,

Maybe not conforming to different traditions but rather creating their own life and how they want to present themselves and make money and orient themselves in the world.

And there's no constraints here.

So think of it like the Hollywood dream where people reinvent themselves and change their names and be whoever they want to be.

And a lot of the upsides of this type of culture is that you have the true freedom to live life the way you want because you're not constrained to how a certain group thinks of you.

And this freedom can go really deep when you have let go of certain conditioning that was given to you by a certain group of how you should live your life and how not to live your life.

So you let go of a lot of that shame,

Guilt,

Or obligation.

And in many ways,

Even the collectivist traditions that we spend years studying in can instill a sense of fear in us.

So it can be quite a relief when you let go of that even while still practicing a lot of the contemplative meditative disciplines.

So another upside is having less restrictions,

Judgments from others,

And you can also create a life of abundance and also material wealth and an own ecosystem of positivity and happiness in your own life.

But now let's look at the downsides of this type of culture.

Everyone in this culture may be more focused on self than other.

And with that can come isolation and loneliness.

And when this individualistic culture goes to the extreme and negative light,

Then this can create a competitive environment where everyone is looking out for themselves and fighting to advance and having a disregard for others.

And then another thing is having no contribution to society because you're just so focused on yourself and your gain of taking that you don't actually give.

And ultimately,

You can keep building and building,

Acquiring things.

But the wisdom from various spiritual traditions is that all these things are impermanent.

So they don't last.

And one day they could either go away or change.

So if you were trying to get your happiness from external things,

Then what will you base your happiness on?

Because they're subject to change.

So this is where we can start to invite back the fundamentals of the qualities of spiritual life,

Such as simplicity,

Meditation,

And forming a community.

So some advice here,

If you are going too far down the individualistic path in a negative light,

Is to start to balance that with joining groups.

And if you don't have any,

Then you can tap into this young energy of individualism and be more proactive and start to create your own groups and create a supporting structure for you,

Even if it may come from multiple different sources,

And you can start to bring people together.

And my takeaway from all of this is that there can indeed be a way to live in both worlds,

So to speak,

Where the ideal can be finding a community of people that care for you and you're contributing to a greater good.

But you're also living a life that pleases you,

That is not dependent on how other people see you.

And that can be true freedom,

Because you are not conforming to certain standards set to you,

But you're also living in a positive,

Happy,

Harmonious way of life,

Where you're happy and other people are also happy.

And you also have your space as well,

As an individual human.

And I do think that you can do both,

But that may take a little bit of time and focused attention.

So,

Curious to hear your thoughts,

Let me know in the comments.

Thank you for listening.

Reviews

This is a timely topic for our culture right now in the United States. I appreciate your Insight from your own personal experience it feels very genuine. This is a topic I frequently discuss with my son.
Love and blessings to you Ishar