Individualism: what does it consist of?

What is individualism? Can you be individualistic and at the same time think about others?? According to the RAE, individualism is defined as a ‘tendency to think and act independently of others, without being subject to general rules’. Thus, when we imagine someone who is individualistic, we usually think of someone who “goes about his or her own thing”, who only looks out for his or her own interests or who does not think about what others need.

Actually, it is a concept with two faces, the good and the bad, although socially (and increasingly) it is focused on as a negative aspect. It is said a lot that society is increasingly individualistic. But why has this boom occurred? In this article we analyze it through a study they did on the matter, led by researcher Igor Grossmann.

Individualism: what does it consist of?

Individualism can be defined as ‘a person’s tendency to act according to his or her own will, without taking into account the opinion of other individuals who belong to the same group and without taking into account the rules of behavior that regulate their relationships.’ In psychology its meaning goes further, and when we talk about individualism we also refer to a personality trait or a way of being.

A growing phenomenon?

A good part of Western societies seem to have taken a turn towards individualism in recent years, and, as they say, it seems that “society is increasingly individualistic.” This is directly related to the phenomenon of “Cult of the self“, which means always putting our interests ahead of the interests of others. Furthermore, with the rise of individualism there has also been a notable increase in narcissism.

In a narcissistic person, the self overshadows the living environment so much that it is very difficult for the person to end up taking care of interests that are beyond their own. Thus, it is true that narcissistic people are characterized, among other traits, by their tendency to put themselves ahead of others at all times, always seeking the admiration of others, approval, and always placing themselves at the center of everything. We see this, also, in another personality disorder: histrionic.

Individualism: the two sides of the coin

Individualism has two faces (or can be understood in two ways): the good side and the bad side. Being individualistic can bring personal benefits, but at the same time it can also have negative consequences. For example, we refer to someone as individualistic when he is focused solely on achieving his own personal successes, without caring too much about others.

Thus, there are individualistic people who border on selfishness. However, it is also true that individualism can be seen from a positive perspective, when we think of someone who fights for their personal goals and who does not care too much about what others think.

The interpretation of this phenomenon, in a positive or negative sense, will depend on some more variable variables.: other personal characteristics the person has, whether their actions benefit or harm others, how their behavior interferes with the freedom of others, whether that individualism also entails selfishness or not, etc.

Investigating individualism

What do experts say about individualism? In this sense, we find an interesting research from 2015 (Grossmann and Varnum), carried out by a group of researchers from the University of Waterloo (Canada) and Arizona State University (USA). The researchers set out to analyze the phenomenon of individualism (specifically, its great rise).

Through the study, led by Igor Grossmann, they reached the following conclusion: the most likely cause of the great rise of individualism is “office jobs”. Because? Because they leave behind all those other more collective or cooperative jobs (typical of the working class), for example.

The rise of individualism and office work

But how did they come to this conclusion? To understand it, we must know that the researchers in their study analyzed 6 cultural factors related to individualism:

Infectious diseases.Natural disasters.Climate.Religiosity.Urbanization of inhabited areas.Socioeconomic structure.

On the other hand, They also analyzed three more variables: the vocabulary used in the books (individualistic, collective words…), cultural practices (single vs. compound names) and the interpersonal structure (marriage, divorce, living alone, etc.). What did they obtain after analyzing all these variables? What were the potential markers of increased individualism?

Well, it was social class (socioeconomic structure) that was directly related to office jobs. Specifically, they found that this was the only mark that preceded changes in individualism throughout this century. Thus, office jobs left behind more cooperative or collective jobs (more characteristic of the working class).

Final thoughts

It is true that there are different ways of understanding individualism, but it is no less true that in the collective ideology it is not well considered. Furthermore, it is important to differentiate here the autonomous person – with a low degree of dependence -, with his or her own goals and interests, from the individualistic person (who takes care of his or her interests regardless of what that means for the interests of others). .

Be that as it may, many people show this tendency, and perhaps what the aforementioned study reveals is partly right: variables such as the predominant type of work in society (an “office job”) could be at the base (among other factors). ) of the growing individualism in which we seem to live immersed.

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