Individualism in America

Individualism in America

Abstract: Individualism is one of the most significant and typical cultures in America, which can be regarded as the core of American culture. It is also a value of Americans. Getting to know individualism in America is an essential step to learn the Americans, and it contributes to improve our communication with them. Besides, although it has some dark sides, there are also advantages that worth learning for Chinese.

When we are in America, maybe we will be struck by the Americans’ unique ways of communicating, thinking, and solving the problems, which show their pursuing of independence and freedom. This phenomenon can be attributed to the individualism in America. Individualism has been an ideology in American society, as well as the core of American culture. It is necessary for us to learn this when we are studying American culture.

What is individualism in America? Maybe many people, like Chinese people, would think that individualism is a wrong value, which makes people pay too much attention to individual and ignore others. They insist that the individualists are very selfish and individualism does harm to the society. However, perhaps they somewhat misunderstand individualism in America. In other words, individualism in American culture is much different from that in China. Individualism is not equal to egoism. Although it focuses on individual benefits, it does not mean that we should not respect or care about others. Just because the Americans look highly of personal independence and freedom, they will be very responsible for their own; they want the best for themselves and prefer learning from others and teamwork; they respect others’ freedom and privacy. Therefore, individualism is an ideology and value in America that protect individual benefits on the basic of equality and freedom.

Some American scholars think that in order to know the origin of the strong, active and arbitrary individualism, we must learn it from the tradition of Judaism-Christian, the ideology, religion and practice in ancient Greece. [1] The origin of individualism can be traced back to the middle of the 5th century BC. At that time, the sophists rose, believing that humans are the principle part of society. Protagoras came up with a famous conclusion that “Man is the measure of all things”, which was regarded as the beginning of individualism. Then the Renaissance and the Enlightenment promoted its prevalent and expansion. Until 1840, a famous France politics thinker Alexis de Tocqueville created the word “individualism” on his well-known book Democracy in America, summing up with the individual value, individual dignity, individual happiness, individual benefit, and individual freedom, and calling them individualism. From then on, individualism has become a fundamental part of the western countries’ culture.

How did individualism begin in America?

班级：外语学院11级英语6班 姓名：伍婉莹 学号：11106016017

Let’s firstly look at the religion point. [2] Puritanism is the group of believer of Protestantism, and they live very plainly. They could not stand the persecution of the church and looked forward to self-redemption. Therefore, they ran to America by The Mayflower in 1620, which made a chance for the individualism to start in America.

The second point is the political theory.[2] In the Mayflower Compact, the Puritans suggested that a government was necessary for governing a new continent and it should be just and fair. Moreover, from 1776, when The Declaration of Independence born, America insisted on the theory that everyone is equal. This is the politics basics of individualism.

The third point is the economy of America.[2] After the Civil War and the movement to the West, the free economy system became more and more popular. People began to compete freely and pursue individual benefits.

Not only did the three points above bring individualism to America, but also promoted its development.

Today, individualism has become a value of Americans, which roots in their mind very deeply. It performs in different aspects. The following four points are some examples.

Daily behavior is one of the aspects. I bet that everyone of us has been told not to ask the age of the Americans when we communicate with them. That is because they regard their age as their privacy. In fact, apart from age, religion, marriage and financial situation also belong to privacy for Americans. So they rarely talk about these in daily life. What’s more, they look highly of freedom. For example, they think that costume is not what shows their position so they dress very casually, or maybe we can say for their own interest, in daily life, unless they have to attend to special occasion, go to school or work.

American family also shows individualism. Just as what I said above, Americans protect their privacy very much. So in every family, every child will have their own bedroom when they are very young. They can do their own things in a private space. Everyone should knock the door before entering their room. The family members will not read their diary, letters or e-mails. They will give them adequate space and chance to deal with their own problems. When they become adults or marry someone, they have to move out of the family house. Then, they have to solve the problem of life, economy, and jobs by themselves.

Individualism also plays an important role in American education. Many of us have watched the movie called High School Musical. That is a very moving movie about how students try their best to make their dreams of music come true. It inspires people

班级：外语学院11级英语6班 姓名：伍婉莹 学号：11106016017

to pursue and fight for their dreams. In America, people attach importance to develop students’ personality. So they stimulate students to find their interests and set goals on their own. Students can choose their jobs according to their own interests. It is thus clear that the Americans can in charge of their own fortune.

From American marriage, we can also find individualism’s figure. It is said that Americans love very crazily. Once they fall in love with someone, they will take every effort to run after it. No matter how difficult it is, they will strive to overcome the hardship. However, people will not surprise about divorce, as they think that everyone has their rights to get together with who they love the most. So if they fall in love with another one, both of the lovers or couples will accept this calmly to avoid tormenting each other. [3]

As we can see above, individualism exists almost everywhere in America. So, there is no doubt that the impacts of individualism are very profound and lasting. Besides, it also has some negative impacts.

As for politics, the American government adopts democratic system. This is a good policy to protect individual rights and benefits. People have rights to choose the leader of the country on their own. In addition, they can put forward their own view towards the government or the laws. This not only inspire the American to care more about the country, but also do good to the development of the country. However, individualism may also lead to the abuse of democracy. Some people will seek their individual benefits by this through some democratic activities, which will disturb the order of politics and laws.

Individualism also greatly affects the economy in America. People have equal chance and freedom for building wealth. So they try their best to work hard and earn money. In addition, many new inventions emerge in endless, which greatly contribute to industrialization and technology. Therefore, the American economy develops very fast and it makes America one of the strongest countries in the world. Whereas, as many other rich countries, huge division of wealth exists in America, too. You can find families who are very poor and people whose income are very low and beggars in the streets, although most of the Americans are very rich. That is really a severe problem.

Individualism is the core of American culture, its influence on American culture is beyond question. As people pursue personality, the cultures in America are very diversified and abundant. In America, there are people believing in different religions, people of different races and people speaking different languages. Mass culture is also very popular. Yet, maybe because individualism leads some people to pay too much attention to freedom, they begin to indulge themselves overly. Egomania and hedonism appear gradually. This general mood of society will somewhat hinder the development of America.

班级：外语学院11级英语6班 姓名：伍婉莹 学号：11106016017

Some studies show that American culture is one of the most characteristic cultures in the world. Although many people hold prejudice towards individualism, we cannot deny its positive effect on America. In some way, our Chinese can use it for reference.

We should be more of personality. Americans are very charming for their personality. They enjoy who they are, and rarely or never follow others blindly. If they are interested in something, they will insist on it and take efforts to make it a part of them. Besides, they will use their own idea to improve the country and even the world. Thanks to this, America is becoming stronger and stronger, and many other countries are affected by it. However, in China, many people are dependent on other's opinion. They also have their own characters and interests, but they cannot stick to them for long. Maybe as they are not confident enough, they will listen to other people's view and change their mind very easily, thinking that others' thoughts are better. So you will find that sometimes there is something that become very popular, not because it is really good, but more and more people pay attention to it. I believe that if Chinese people can be more confident to develop their personality, they will have more idea that is fantastic and our society will be more colorful.

We should be more independent. In America, when people are very young, they are encouraged to solve the problems on their own. They are allowed to make individual decision, but have to be responsible for the result. They always fight for their dreams and support their life on their own. That is what makes Americans so independent. On the contrary, in China, we can see opposite scenery. Chinese parents care too much about their children. Most of them will prepare many things for them and even interfere in their interests, decisions and many other things. So you may see that children in China usually ask for their parents’ advice before they make a decision. Even when they enter the society, they still need their parents to support their life. Take these two countries into comparison. Maybe American children can establish themselves in society more successfully. They have the ability to in charge of their own fortune. If our Chinese can also be as independent as the Americans are, the people so called “rich second generation” and “the officiallings” will be less in our society.

We should view competition in a better way. For Americans, competition is the best way for stimulating one’s proficiency. Thus, competitions in America are very strong. Americans will try hard to improve themselves to be the best. Take Apple in America and example. To make their products more useful, suitable for their customers and especially to make them more popular than that of other companies, Apple in America continually research and develop new function of them. Yet, in China, although people want to be better than others, most of them are not willing to take some actions. Instead, they just imitate others. You can find many product looks alike, but in fact, some of them are just imitations. You can also find telephone that looks almost the same as iPhone, however, they are just made by another company. We cannot say that Chinese people do not like competition. Nevertheless, maybe they compete in a

班级：外语学院11级英语6班 姓名：伍婉莹 学号：11106016017

wrong way. Therefore, if we can view competition in a reasonable way and make efforts to win others with our actual strength, we can be more successful.

Individualism is the essence of American cultures. It is an important key for us to get to know American. So we can communicate with them better, avoiding making us embarrassed and making them puzzled. What’s more, from its nature and its impact on America, we can find the superiorities and disadvantages of it. For this reason, we can learn from it in some way, so that we can improve ourselves and even our society. Of course, everything should have a limit. Therefore, we should not pursue individualism excessively.

Reference

[1]Ralph Ketcham, Individualism and Public Life-A Modern Dilemma, Basil Blackwell Inc., New York, 1987:34-36. [2]杨云，美国“个人主义” 文化研究，重庆工学院学报（社会科学），2008:102-104. [3]骆越虹，浅谈美国文化中的个人主义，佳木斯大学社会科学学报，2007:87-88.

班级：外语学院11级英语6班 姓名：伍婉莹 学号：11106016017