Collectivism

The Native American powwow has served to maintain the culture of North America’s Indigenous peoples since before the arrival of European colonialists. In traditional forms of the powwow, competition is not common whereas contest powwows are characterized by the primacy of competition. We assess similarities and differences between the contest powwow and competitive sport found within the broader American society through in-depth semi-structured interviews with 14 competitive contest powwow dancers. We address a number of questions through the qualitative research process, such as what does the powwow mean to you? What are your primary goals for competing? We analyzed the qualitative data via a three-step coding process (open coding, axial coding, and theme development). We demonstrate that although the participants compete with a high degree of seriousness, they maintain traditional collectivist values and attitudes. Further, we conclude that the contest powwow serves to maintain an...

Despite considerable awareness about various forms and meanings of participative decision-making (PDM) in different parts of the world, there is less agreement on the causes of variation in PDM. This article argues that among other exogenous (e.g. sociopolitical, legal, historical) forces, the sociocultural context plays an important role in the observed differences among PDM approaches and practices across nations. Similarly, subcultures and organizational cultures may influence PDM within nations. Two cultural dimensions: individualism-collectivism and power distance, are linked with four widespread employee participation approaches: face-to-face PDM, collective PDM, pseudo-PDM, and paternalistic PDM. The attributes of each PDM form, including the cultural determinants, underlying beliefs, the types of decisions made, and the relationship between a specified form and other PDM meanings (e.g. self-managing teams) are elaborated.

... a typical naive set of assumptions about "group oriented" cultures it that the participants within them are basically altruistic, self-effacing, self-sacrificing and sociable. A society of such individuals should exhibit the very best of human civilization working in equitable, democratic communities. By contrast, those from individualistic cultures should be cold, grasping, selfish, egotistical and almost incapable of the cooperation demanded by a civil society. Indeed, a society of individualists, by this stereotype would be a dog eat dog affair, dedicated to conflict, riven with disloyalty and betrayal, forever failing to build a stable and humanistic community.

Rebecca Burton draws on her experience to construct a list of pros and cons with regard to working collaboratively within the realm of theatre as a means to bring about socio-political change. Burton concludes that the pros outweigh the cons, but patience is a necessity, as are clearly defined divisions of labour, while adaptability helps ensure success and sustainability.

Political ideologies have always shaped the political arena whether it scopes a national or international platform. Socialism, a left-wing ideology, has played a significant role in characterizing political thought and ideas the world over. From Russia to China and from Cuba to New Caledonia, collectivism appealed to the masses because it sought to transform the status quo not only for more equality but more importantly greater equity. Words that can be used interchangeably with socialism include collectivism, communalism, Marxism, communism and so forth. The fundamental aspect of these various synonyms is the precedence of “the community” and that its needs and priority is held above “the individual”. There is a need to identify how and why such an ideology acquired prominence in the early 1900s onwards, what economic and social conditions fostered its emergence. Also, bearing this in mind, can socialism be reinvented so that it not only gains prominence but widespread appeal in the world today? One can also evaluate its potential in the Pacific and how some of its features are relatable to Pacific lifestyles and norms like community-centered needs, collective thinking and so forth. This is not to say that Pacific culture absolutely embodies socialism but rather that it has potential in this sense to develop in this context.  Thus, this paper will discuss socialism with regards to its emergence in the 1900s, its prominence then and its prospective appeal today. Special emphasis will also be on how this ideology can be contextualized to suit the economic and social climate in the South Pacific. This will also convey why such an ideology has been quite influential on my view on politics.

The aim of this study is to investigate whether the cross-cultural value paradigm ‘individualism-collectivism’ is a useful explanatory model for mental illness stigma on a cultural level. Using snowball sampling, a quantitative questionnaire survey of 305 individuals from four UK-based cultural groups (white-English, American, Greek/Greek Cypriot, and Chinese) was carried out. The questionnaire included the ‘Community Attitudes to Mental Illness scale’ and the ‘vertical-horizontal individualism-collectivism scale’. The results revealed that the more stigmatizing a culture’s mental illness attitudes are, the more likely collectivism effectively explains these attitudes. In contrast, the more positive a culture’s mental illness attitudes, the more likely individualism effectively explains attitudes. We conclude that a consideration of the individualism-collectivism paradigm should be included in any future research aiming to provide a holistic understanding of the causes of mental illness stigma, particularly when the cultures stigmatization levels are particularly high or low.

The study examines the role of the individualism-collectivism (IDV) cultural dimension in reward crowdfunding contribution intentionality and behavior. An extended Theory of Planned Behavior framework is used for comparative analysis using survey data collected from users of national platforms from opposing cultures along the IDV dimension – China and Finland. Main findings suggest that: attitudes are positively associated with information sharing and financial contribution intentions in both cultures; collectivism enhances the effects of subjective norms on both intentions; behavior control is more strongly observed in individualistic cultures; and information sharing intentions are more strongly associated with contribution behavior in collectivistic cultures.

This article highlights key empirical and conceptual progress in understanding of predictors of marital satisfaction. The article brings together studies in this area summarizing the key findings, and then focuses on comparison of marital satisfaction predictors across individualistic and collectivist cultures. The researches on marital relationships currently addresses the concepts like satisfaction, marital success, consensus, companionship, adjustment, quality or some concepts relevant to satisfaction of marital life. All the common and different predictors of marital satisfaction are identified and compared with the existing body of literature in individualistic and collectivistic cultures. Although there are some conflicting findings that hinder drawing of conclusive evidence, we found predictors of marital satisfaction among that are shared between individualistic and collectivist cultures. Hence some universal predictors of marital happiness are highlighted through cultural c...

Teams are increasingly faced with obstacles that can hurt their performance. Social cognitive skills are emerging factors that that have shown the potential to influence how well team members work together. However, the interplay of transactive memory systems (TMSs) and knowledge management (KM) mechanisms within technology teams has not received much research attention. This paper examines the effects of a team’s TMS and KM mechanisms on the team’s performance. The hypotheses are tested using data from 54 teams within seven major US corporations. The results show knowledge creation to be more salient than knowledge sharing and application mechanisms, because only creation seems to affect team performance. Moreover, knowledge creation affects knowledge sharing, which affects knowledge application. Information Technology (IT) support and TMS both facilitate knowledge creation. TMS also affects knowledge application, whereas knowledge sharing only indirectly (through knowledge creatio...

Το παρόν συνθέτει ένα απολογιστικό κείμενο της εμπειρίας μας από τις αυτο-οργανωμένες συλλογικότητες αθλητισμού. Ένα κείμενο που επιθυμεί να πυροδοτήσει τον αναστοχασμό σε αυτές τις συλλογικότητες. Όχι με όρους εσωστρέφειας, αλλά με όρους αναγνώρισης της δυνατότητάς μας να αλλάξουμε τον κόσμο, να δημιουργήσουμε νέους κόσμους… ένα κείμενο το οποίο προσβλέπει στην κατανόηση της δύναμής μας. Ένα κείμενο το οποίο επιθυμεί να μας θυμίσει ότι η μόνη μας πατρίδα είναι τα παιδικά μας όνειρα.
Δεν είναι, συνεπώς, ένα ακαδημαϊκό κείμενο, ούτε προσπαθεί να καλύψει τα στάνταρ της ακαδημίας. Ελπίζει μονάχα να ανταποκριθεί στις ανησυχίες, τις αγωνίες, τις επιθυμίες και τις ανάγκες μας.

Digital games embedded in social network sites are one of the driving forces behind the expansion of digital gamer populations. Previous studies have observed different usage patterns between users in different ethnic groups and countries, suggesting that culture orientations may affect how people play and interact through social network games. This study examined how people’s culture orientations affect usage patterns with measures of vertical and horizontal individualism–collectivism. The findings indicate that culture does not directly affect usage patterns. Instead, the effects on usage patterns are mediated by people’s expected outcomes of playing social network games. Vertical culture orientations predicted social expected outcomes. Individualism predicted status expected outcomes, but in different directions on the dimensions of vertical or horizontalness. Vertical collectivism was the only culture orientation that indirectly predicted buying in-game products with real money. Implications for game designers and markers are discussed

In an effort to carve a distinct place for social facts without lapsing into a holistic ontology, John Greenwood has sought to define social phenomena solely in terms of the attitudes held by the actor(s) in question. I argue that his proposal allows for the possibility of a “lone collectivity” that is (1) unpalatable in its own right and (2) incompatible with the claim that sociology is autonomous from psychology. As such, I conclude that the relevant beliefs need to be held by more than one person.

Autobiographical memories retrieved by bicultural Russian-English bilinguals were compared across languages. Results suggest that bilinguals' languages may influence cognitive styles, so that when speaking a language associated with a more individualistic culture, bilinguals produce more individualistic narratives, whereas when speaking a language associated with a more collectivist culture, bilinguals produce more collectivist narratives, regardless of language of encoding, or main agent in the narrative. Moreover, bilinguals expressed more intense affect when speaking the same language at the time of retrieval that they spoke at the time when the event took place. The positive/negative emotional valence of autobiographical narratives was influenced by language and age at the time of the event and by the main agent in the narrative. It is proposed that memories and self-narratives in bilinguals are mediated by the language spoken at any given time and that language functions as a vehicle for culture, with cultural differences seeping into language and influencing cognitive styles and the self.

This thesis analyses how and why culture and geography influence the allocation and licensing of the radio frequency (RF) spectrum in different nations. Based on a broad study of 235 countries, an inter-disciplinary approach is used to explore regulatory frameworks and attitudes toward risk. In addition, detailed case studies of the UK, France, the US and Ecuador provide deeper insights into the main contrasting regulatory styles. Three alternative sociological theories are used to analyse and explain the results for both the in-depth and broad brush studies. The Cultural Theory of Mary Douglas and co-workers is first used to categorise countries in terms of perceptual filters. The empirical findings indicate some countries to be apparently exceptional in their behaviour. The theory of Bounded Rationality is used to investigate and explain these apparent irrationalities. Finally, Rational Field Theory shows how beliefs and values guide administrations in their RF regulation. A numbe...

Reconsideration of collectivism in Japan through a 21st-centry perspective: Collectivism is a key element in the study of global  contemporary art, with group activities proliferating worldwide not only in Euro-America but also in many other parts on the map, including Asia. Moreover, twenty-first-century collectivism is not limited to artists’ group activities, but collectivity is broadly observed in the form of socially engaged art and community art, as contemporary artists produce social projects and collaborate with peoples in communities while frequently engaging in local issues.

Among the schools of thought on religion that have developed within the purview of sociology, functionalism has been associated with Emile Durkheim. It describes religion with regard to the requirements of the society and the role it plays in their fulfillment. Religion is a dichotomous concept and tends to rely on the differentiation between two categories of the sacred and the profane. The system of mystical attachment with an object whether animate or inanimate, is actually the veneration of the society itself. Totemism finds its expression amidst the Australian Aborigines and the tribal in India. Shared core principles and value consensus are essential for the existence of the society in its cohesive form.  While religion reinforces the interdependence of individual entities within a society and has exhibited unifying characteristics, it also has been a source of division and a cause of friction.  Despite what may seem sometimes to be a dysfunctional role, religion and the functional status ascribed to it  continues to be relevant especially, in simpler or even in modern contexts and provides a basis for further comprehension.

This paper aims to compare three different countries Italy, Germany and Serbia in seven different dimensions proposed by Hofstede (1984; 1990; 2001; 2008): power distance, uncertainty avoidance, individualism-collectivism, and masculinity-femininity, long term orientation vs. short term orientation, and indulgence-restraint. We set different hypotheses to check similarity between this countries. Data was used from  Hofstede  website, and sample of questioners by World Value Surwey. Our results show that Italy has higher index of individualism, Germany highly rank in terms of professionalism, and Serbia lowest GDP, highly collectivism society, and higher power distance. In the case of Serbia the predictive power of cultural values is likely to be more stronger when people face uncertainty.

À propos d'Exode 16. Extrait : "La communauté est divisée par tente ce qui devient l’échelle des sous-ensembles du large groupe. Chaque tente est sous la responsabilité d'un chef qui ramasse le qu’est-ce et le rapporte à sa tente pour le répartir entre chaque membre. Il y en a assez pour tout le monde et tous ont exactement ce qu’ils ont besoin de manger quotidiennement."

Of all contemporary social theorists, Luhmann has best understood the centrality of the concept of meaning to social theory, and has most extensively worked out the notion's implications.  However, despite the power of his theory, the theory suffers from difficulties impeding its reception. This article attempts to remedy this situation with some critical arguments and proposals for revision. First, the theory Luhmann adopted from biology as the basis of his own theory was a poor choice, since that theory has no explanatory power, being purely descriptive; furthermore, that theory is fundamentally flawed, since it implies that viruses are impossible. Second, Luhmann's theory of meaning cannot coherently make the social domain autonomous as he desires, since Luhmann does not take into acocunt the distinction between syntax and semantics. By introducing this distinction, making clear that social systems consist of rules, not just communications, and raising the rule-concept to the same prominence in social theory as those of actor and system, that autonomy can be maintained, while at the same time avoiding the counterintuitive aspects of Luhmann's theory.

Indonesia sebagai negara dengan kultur collectivism menjadikan identitas sosial sebagai aspek penting yang mempengaruhi perilaku setiap individu dalam masyarakatnya. Pengaruh yang muncul dari identitas sosial salah satunya ialah perilaku konformitas. Selain itu, anonimitas diprediksi memiliki pengaruh sebagai moderasi terhadap hubungan antara identitas sosial dan perilaku konformitas. Penelitian eksperimen ini (N = 64) menguji pengaruh dari identitas sosial dengan moderasi anonimitas terhadap perilaku konformitas. Partisipan pada kelompok eksperimen diberikan manipulasi berupa permainan kelompok (toss a name game, jig-joy & hulahoop transfer) kemudian seluruh partisipan diberikan manipulation check identitas sosial dan perilaku konformitas partisipan diukur menggunakan line judgment task Asch’s dengan mengamati hasil dari jumlah jawaban konformis pada stimulus kritis. Analisis moderasi sederhana dengan teknik bootstrap menunjukkan secara keseluruhan apabila terdapat pengaruh identitas sosial dengan moderasi anonimitas yang signifikan terhadap perilaku konformitas. Tidak hanya itu, ditemukan pula jika jenis kelamin memiliki pengaruh dalam hubungan antara identitas sosial, anonimitas dan perilaku konformitas. Temuan ini menunjukkan hasil baru dibandingkan dengan temuan-temuan sebelumnya pada negara collectivism seperti Indonesia.

This paper seeks to argue that for humanity to truly achieve happiness (not just in the personal terms of the individual, but also to make this a possibility for all members of the species and thus create a better world), a combination of the following main points must be striven for:
i) Our spiritual, physical, mental and emotional health as well as the right and/or opportunity to develop these 4 main domains must be present and readily accessible,

ii) The conditions of our environment, both our immediate urban surroundings as well as our natural environment, must be sustainably built or otherwise preserved and enhanced for posterity,

iii) The conditions in which other forms of life exist (both human and non-human) must be nurturing rather than destructive or oppressive,

iv) The current system, that current system being capitalism, is an anti-thesis to the points mentioned above and it is ultimately detrimental to all aspects of life and therefore, it should be abolished;

v) Thus, it should not only be a right but also a duty to stand up to oppression and self-serving corruption in order to overthrow the propertied class’ hold on societal resources and restore power to communities across the world.
This paper builds this argument by referring to, amongst several things, concepts linked to Buddhism, anarchy (i.e.: the lack of government) as an ideal mode of existence and generally, real-life scenarios and related observations that reflect this perspective on the world and human society. I hope this modest proposal proves to be fruitful reading.
Before proceeding any further, I would like to invite the reader to go through this paper in the spirit in which it was written, with an objective and analytical line of thought that attempted to free itself from conditioning and bias (to which degree I managed to do that, I’ll leave it up to you). You are completely free to disagree with the ideas, especially if you have a counter-argument that is rational. What shouldn’t be acceptable is the dismissal of the ideas in this paper based on what you’ve been told is true and has been perpetuated as dogma for several centuries.

This study presents a reading of Jesus’ parable of the Prodigal Son through the context of collectivism. After a brief survey of how honour and shame function in a collectivistic society, the essay examines the parable using Luke’s expressed occasion of the story as a starting point. The three characters are examined, as each display behaviour that is outside the accepted norms of Jewish and Greco-Roman society. The study reveals that a major element of the message of Jesus lies in the re-definition of boundaries. The Lukan Jesus remarkably does not abolish the community-first value of the Pharisees and scribes, but upholds the priority of the collective through expanding the boundaries of those who are honoured. The parable is then situated into the grand Lukan narrative, showing how the Jesus movement as described in Luke-Acts widens the circle of the collective.

Victimization as a form of sacrificial ritual is discussed. It is understood as an inferior and archaic method of ego emancipation by which the transgressor's unconscious suffering is transferred to the victim. Transfer of sin and guilt occurs. As a consequence, original wholeness is disrupted. The blood sacrifice originates as a defense against the fear of an overwhelming unconscious. Power over life and death is imparted to the institutions of consciousness. Identification with collective consciousness is promoted, which serves to strengthen feeble individual consciousness. The regressive bond to the unconscious is temporarily disrupted, but the sacrifice must be renewed. It is the real impetus behind Freud's death drive and also the destructive narcissistic relationship.

Keywords: human sacrifice, rite of passage, self-mutilation, primal transgression, ego wholeness, flagellants, amputation disorder, sin transference, St Paul, Tezcatlipoca.