What are the differences between individualism and collectivism? Individualism emphasizes individual goals and rights., while collectivism emphasizes group goals and personal relationships.
Individualism stresses individual goals and the rights of the individual person. Collectivism focuses on group goals, what is best for the collective group, and personal relationships. An individualist is motivated by personal rewards and benefits. Individualist persons usually set personal goals and objectives based on self, and they are very comfortable working with autonomy and not part of a team.
The collectivist is motivated by group goals. Long-term relationships are very important. Collectivistic persons easily sacrifice individual benefit or praise to recognize and honor the team’s success. In fact, being singled out and honored as an individual from the rest of the team may be embarrassing for a collectivistic person.
The generalized geographic clusters of individualism may be found in Anglo countries, Germanic Europe, and Nordic Europe. Geographic clusters for collectivism are often located in Arab countries, Latin America, Confucian Asia, Southern Asia, and Sub-Saharan Africa.
In most cases, culture, and specifically the characteristics associated with individualism and collectivism, have some influence on learners’ and instructors’ behavior, attitudes, and expectations. For example, in classrooms with collectivistically-oriented learners, face maintenance and harmony reign supreme so that neither teachers nor students should lose face and as such, any confrontations or conflicts are usually avoided or formulated in a manner so as not to hurt or cause any harm to anyone. Conversely, most individualistic societies have weak face-consciousness where conflicts are brought into the open with confrontation in learning situations being regarded as salutary. Coming to terms with these cultural differences can be difficult for language educators. It is commonplace for most language instructors from Western and individualistic cultures to endorse a communicative and active learning approach in the classroom where speaking and engaging in discussions is seen as a vital aspect of language acquisition.
How have you seen individualism and collectivism in your own life? Let me know in the comments!
Being an individualist has its advantages because it helps you not depend on someone to achieve your goals, but it can take you away from solidarity with those around you, and belonging to a group can also help you achieve your goals but not in the time that you expect it's like standing in line you have to wait your turn.
ResponderBorrarYou're right Noemi, being an individualist has its pros. I think we need to find the balance between individualism and collectivism, especially inside our classroom.
ResponderBorrar