Individualism versus Collectivism

Aungee Stevenson
Beulah University

Marketing MBA
Professor Scott
September 24, 2011

Individualism vs Collectivism America when remembered by its history was a place built upon freedom and was the logic of vast opportunities within a new country with innovation as its' first name. For more than 100 years America has been priding itself upon engaging and welcoming people from all over the world to its population by the very idea of individualism because the principle of the subject is the foundation of its' reasoning. As time has brought about changes that America never could have imagined somehow America has reverted itself slowly to its ' origin just as a clock would dial back the hands of time, capturing the original reason for fighting freedom, no individualism. Therefore, it is necessary to say that collectivism is back because it was never completely out of the picture but just waiting for greed to resurrect it and give it a new body. Individualism and collectivism are two items that pose major concerns in the world that we live today and can be contrasted based on the dilemma of disbanding one for the other including the thoughts of different races and their interpretations of the world today. Individualism holds that the individual is the primary unit of reality and the ultimate standard of value. This view does not deny that societies exist or that people benefit from living in them, but it sees society as a collection of individuals, not something over and above them (Stata, 1992). Individualism is at once an ethical-psychological concept, and an ethical-political one. As an ethical-psychological concept, individualism holds that a human being should think and judge independently, respecting nothing more than the sovereignty of his or her mind; thus, it is intimately connected with the concept of autonomy. As an ethical-psychological concept, individualism upholds the supremacy of individual rights (Freedom Keys, 2011). Individualists see people dealing primarily with reality and the other people are just one aspect of reality. Collectivists see people dealing primarily with other people; reality is dealt with through the mediator of the group; the group, not the individual, is what directly confronts reality (Stata, 1992). Individualism regards man—every man –as an independent, sovereign entity who possesses an inalienable right to his own life, a right derived from his nature a rational being. Individualism holds that a civilized society, or any form of association, cooperation or peaceful co-existence among men, can be achieved only on the basis of the recognition of individual rights—and that a group, as such, has no rights other than the individual rights of its' members (Freedom Keys, 2011). Collectivism holds that the group—the nation, the community, the proletariat, the race, etc..—is the primary unit of reality and the ultimate standard of value. This view does not deny the reality of the individual. But ultimately, collectivism holds that one's identity is determined by the groups one interacts with, the one's identity is constituted essentially of relationships with others (Stata, 1992). It is also described as a form of anthropo morphism. It attempts to see a group of individuals as having s single identity similar to a person….collectivism demands that the group be more important than the individual. It requires the individual to sacrifice himself for the alleged good of the group (Freedom Keys, 2011). Consumer's fall into two categories those who engage in social commerce by actually buying products via the adverts over the social network and those who ignore it (Facebook has become an ad network et al., 2011). It is obvious that advertisements control majority of the market for sales and knowing everything that one can possible think of can be the life of a sale. When marketing an item or items race, sex, values, morals…etc play a role. Items in any cases are even invented for a certain race or group based on their spending habits and values. The dichotomy behind this method is to make money from this group. Knowing whether this group would fall into the category of collectivism or individualism is duly noted and cannot be left out of the equation of marketing. For example, an item created for the African American community called "Finding Peace". This item is a computer software item that will allow one to retrace the steps of your ancestors and entering very little family history. The program will do the research and help to connect whole families that were unknown relatives. This product would be vital to the African American community due to slavery creating distance and loss to almost an entire race. Thirty percent of African American families only know their families history reaching to their grandparents or less (PR Newswire Association LLC, 2011). African Americans would definitely fit as categorized as individualists. African Americans would consider vales before purchasing this product but would think in a manner of individualism, thinking personally of themselves and the detachment they have experienced through generations. This product would be useful and probably market very well to African Americans. Thinking of this same product and thinking of marketing to another group such as the Chinese may result in a different outcome. The product would be introduced, as such, but there has not been a large emerging factor that has caused this race to lose contact or become scattered from their heritage or ancestors. Chinese would fall in to the category of collectivism. They would use their values and think as a group before inquiring about a product like this. Therefore the market would be very small and not worth the risk. Conclusion The world is seen as one big market for making money. Fortune comes to those who learn to market the right items to the right audience or grow. Learning how that group thinks and what their needs are the keys to success in business. Using social networking or web advertisement sites is a no brainer for today's audience. Social commerce probably is not going anywhere so it would behoove all to adjust. Social commerce is growing and making a name for itself daily. It is the new way to market anything and it is believed that they product mentioned earlier would be able to marketed through these same measures to the African American community.

References

728 Facebook has become an ad network Retrieved from http://annholman.com/category/social-media/
727Freedom Keys (2011). Collectivism vs. indivdualism Retrieved from http://freedomkey.com/collectivism.htm
729PR Newswire Association LLC (2011). Many african americans underestimate their risks Retrieved from http://prnewswire.com
726Stata, R. (1992). What is individualism? Retrieved from http://mol.redbarn.org/objectivism/writing/raymiestata/