Collectivism and individualism both were originally just different assortment of behaviors adopted in different regions around the world. Similar to the concept of customs and traditions, it’s almost impossible to identify a specific date to when a culture started. Basically, the emergence and prominence of international media was one of the strongest factors that helped in introducing and illustrating different political, intellectual, social, economical and many other differences in approaches to the public. As proposed by Loveless (2009) “International media are more informative of the global environment, focusing on events outside the region that enlarge the scope of issues and events. International media then provide information and exposure to a wider range of political and social phenomena.” With raising awareness and openness to the world came along fear of normalization and Rebellion. That’s when collectivism and individualism evolved from differences in behaviors, to become one of the most up-to-date controversial issues. According to Thomas et al. (2003) the definition of individualism and collectivism are as following “Individualism refers to the tendency to view one’s self as independent of others and to be more concerned about consequences of behaviors for one’s personal goals, while the other end of the continuum, collectivism refers to the tendency to view the self as interdependent with selected others, be concerned about consequences of behavior for the goals of the in-group, and be more willing to sacrifice personal interests for group welfare” .The United States of America, Australia and France are the most recognized countries that adapt the individualist’s ideology. On the other side, countries like Japan, china and New Zealand adapt collectivism. The core of the existing debate is on deciding which ideology is erroneous and which’s
References: DeFrank, R. (1985).The impact of culture on the management practices of Americanand Japanese CEOs.Online journal of Organizational Jackson, C., Colquitt, J., Wesson, M. & Zapata-Phelan C.(2006). Psychological Collectivism: A measurement validation and linkage to group member Loveless, M. (2009). The Theory of International Media Diffusion: Political Socialization and International Media in Transitional Democracies , 44(2), Natadecha-Sponsel, P. (1993). Individualism as an American cultural value. In De vita, P & Armstrong, J Self-actualization, (2013). In Cambridge Dictionaries Online. Retrived May 16, 2013 from Unconventional. (2013). In Merriam-Webster.com. Retrieved May 14, 2013, From Zhao, J & Chen L. (2008) Individualism, collectivism, selected personality traits, and psychological contract in employment: A comparative study,