Collectivism is the moral stance, political philosophy, ideology, or social outlook that emphasizes the group and its interests.
Individualism is the moral stance, political philosophy, ideology, or social outlook that emphasizes the moral worth of the individual.
Progressives (and nationalists) are collectivists, and classical liberals are individualists. This is a defining distinction between the two philosophies.
Progressives often depict individualism as a selfish, "I got mine, screw you," philosophy.
The reality, however, is that individualists aren't selfish, they just believe that individual rights and liberties take precedence over the will of the collective. Freedom of speech, for example, is a fundamentally individualist concept.
Progressives will be surprised to learn that more collectivist societies are poorer and more socially unstable than individualist ones. And this holds true within and across countries.
For example, the graph below depicts the relationship between how collectivist different states and cities are in the United States and their population's social capital (i.e how politically engaged they are, how much time they spend with friends and believe that most people can be trusted.)
The authors of the study report that, "Even after controlling forother variables, in those societies where individualistic attitudes and practices dominate, there also tends to be more social capital. Individualists are more inclined toward civic
engagement and political activity; they also spend more time with their friends and believe that most people are honest and can be trusted."
A study published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences also reports that individualist countries are more innovative and achieve greater economic prosperity.
Hence, individualism is not about being selfish, it's about protecting individual liberties, which makes society more socially and economically prosperous.
Source: https://t.co/sy1Cf6DiL5
PNAS study: http://www.pnas.org/content/108/Supplement_4/21316.full
I live in Louisiana and this graph depicts our state perfectly. We have such a collectivist mindset. I think most is this is due to New Orleans running the state.
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I find that to be the case in most states. In Washington, everyone is very individualistic, they vote red, they are conservative... except the epicenter of Seattle-Tacoma. The population there is enough to swing the entire state blue.
Even in Texas we are seeing Austin, Houston and DFW making an impact. Sad!
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For example Nordic countries are ranked way up top on both individualism and interpersonal trust(also social capital in general from the other studies I've seen), while being very progressive and left wing in their policies. I feel that directly contradicts what you're trying to take away from this study.
Also for example there's a chicken-egg situation happening too, because we see a correlation between individualism and wealth of a country, wealthy countries tend to be more individualistic, so are they more wealthy because of individualism or is individualism a consequence of becoming rich? I think it's the latter mostly, at least in Western context, because, as Inglehart has argued, in very poor material conditions we are forced to cooperate and submit to the will of the collective, because otherwise that might mean that we'll be banished and denied physical sustinence(also the reason why poor countries tend to be more religious, because that's one way for people to help and relate to each other). On the other hand when a country goes through rapid industrialization, means of self-sustinence become more available to people - you can get a job at a factory now and not submit to a will of a very oppressive father, because now suddenly you can stay alive and thrive without him, so you get a chance to become more individualistic.
Really cool that people are posting stuff like that here though. :)
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Thanks for your comments! I post a lot of stuff about individualism vs collectivism, limited govt, peace, tolerance, media bias, etc.
I can see your chicken-egg comment. For me personally, I was very poor growing up. I joined the military (collectivist haven) and have done very well for myself, but not just because I was part of the military. I spend hours studying and increasing my skills. I take risks, I start new ventures, I invest my capital in everything from real estate to precious metals.
The collectivist military allowed me to grow up from the trailer, but I wouldn't say that it's the only reason.
Cheers!
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