Li Daokuan
Class5, Grade2009, School of Foreign Languages and Literature, Chongqing Normal University
Abstract: The American people believe that they had better not owe anyone, also other people cannot owe them anything. When they are communicating, they are inclined to be active. Judging from those faiths of American, we can get to know that their perspective of individualism. In addition, a better comprehension of conception and source of the American's individualism is helpful for us to understand its culture. Key word: individualism source American culture
1 Individualism in America
The faiths of American people is no owing to anyone, also not be owed by anyone. They are tend to be active when they are communicating. They are fond of cope with a case on his own, and dislike to be interrupted by others. They will also not bother other people. Briefly speaking, they enjoy doing things alone. So, we can say that the American like carrying out individualism. Robert Beria, professor of California University, alleged that\"It is the individualism that is the genuine core of American culture.\" American people's favors of talking about human rights also originate from this thought that the personal right is the most supreme, and the purpose of government is simply to protect persons' rights and profits. The forming of government must based on the agreement of civilians, and the legal authority also comes from the citizens.[1]
2 About the individualism
2.1 The conception of individualism
The encyclopedia of Britain have a definition of individualism:\"Individualism is a typical thought and philosophy of western capitalism... ..., individualism is a system of value, a theory of humanity, also a attitude and tendency about certain politics economy society and religion.[2]
In the English language, the word \"individualism\" was first introduced, as a pejorative, by the Owenites in the late 1830s, although it is unclear if they were influenced by Saint-Simonianism or came up with it independently. A more positive use of the term in Britain came to be used with the writings of James Elishama Smith, who was a millenarian and a Christian Israelite. Although an early Owenite socialist, he eventually rejected its collective idea of property, and found in individualism a \"universalism\" that allowed for the development of the \"original genius.\" Without individualism, Smith argued, individuals cannot amass property to increase one's happiness. William Maccall, another Unitarian preacher, and probably an acquaintance of Smith, came somewhat later, although influenced by John Stuart Mill,
Thomas Carlyle, and German Romanticism, to the same positive conclusions, in his 1847 work \"Elements of Individualism\".
As commonly used, an individual is a person or any specific object in a collection. In the 15th century and earlier, and also today within the fields of statistics and metaphysics, individual means \"indivisibleypically describing any numerically singular thing, but sometimes meaning \"a person.\" . From the 17th century on, individual indicates separateness, as in individualism. Individuality is the state or quality of being an individual; a person separate from other persons and possessing his or her own needs, goals, and desires. 2.2 The source of individualism
Individualism is the moral stance, political philosophy, ideology, or social outlook that stresses \"the moral worth of the individual\". Individualists promote the exercise of one's goals and desires and so value independence and self-reliance while opposing most external interference upon one's own interests, whether by society, family or any other group or institution.
Individualism makes the individual its focus and so starts \"with the fundamental premise that the human individual is of primary importance in the struggle for liberation.\" Classical liberalism (including libertarianism), existentialism and anarchism (especially individualist anarchism) are examples of movements that take the human individual as a central unit of analysis.
It has also been used as a term denoting \"The quality of being an individual; individuality\" related to possessing \"An individual characteristic; a quirk.\" Individualism is thus also associated with artistic and bohemian interests and lifestyles where there is a tendency towards self creation and experimentation as opposed to tradition or popular mass opinions and behaviors as so also with humanist philosophical positions and ethics.
The word individualism is a creative term made by the French historian and politician—Alexis de Tocqueville, who indicated individualism emphasizes the personal freedom and benefits, including self-interest components. 2.3 The presentation of individualism
Just as an old proverb said \"God helps those who help themselves\". In America the thoughts related to self-ego are so stubborn and can be found everywhere. That's why there are plenty of vocabularies expressing one-self, such as self-absorption, self-admiration, ego-centric and so on. American idioms have a lot of lexical terms expressing self-value, self-benefit and self-control, which are the core content of the individualistic system.[3]
There are also many expressions about individualism in American people's daily life except the language itself. Although I haven't been to America, I've watched lots of American TV series, and I've got some useful informations from them.
For instance, Friends, a prevailed TV comedy which was broadcasted at the early of 1990's. We can find a lot of examples which transmit the thought of \"Do it yourself\" in this show. Monica, who's the core person in those six people, was affected by her eminent brother's power. So her parents did not show much affection to her. Worse still, she was fatty, so she was very pessimistic and didn't have much
confidence. Nevertheless, Monica didn't only lose weight by herself successfully, but also became a prominent chef. Bit by bit, she won her parents' respects and affection. Rachel, a wealthy girl, joined Monica after flee away from wedding. At first, Rachel was a indulged girl, who couldn't do any housework such as washing clothes and cooking. However, this girl refused the credit-card given by her father, and she decided to start her career life from a pub servant. Finally, Rachel became independent and had more courage about life. In addition, Joey is also a typical represent. He had never received any higher education. And in the beginning, he solely played a bit role in a show, but he eventually became a renowned star of soap drama after his unremitting and painstaking efforts. Rose, Chandler, Phoebe, they are all small potatoes in life, nonetheless, they realized their value by themselves' efforts. Furthermore, the TV show Depressed housewife, its roles including the one who lost her husband, who lost his wife, even a minor boy who could only make a living by himself, they all have the spirit of perseverance, the faith to conquer various hardship, so as to have a better life. 2.4 Individualism and society
An individualist enters into society to further his or her own interests, or at least demands the right to serve his or her own interests, without taking the interests of society into consideration (an individualist need not be an egoist). The individualist does not lend credence to any philosophy that requires the sacrifice of the self-interest of the individual for any higher social causes. Jean-Jacques Rousseau would argue, however, that his concept of \"general will\" in the \"social contract\" is not the simple collection of individual wills and precisely furthers the interests of the individual (the constraint of law itself would be beneficial for the individual, as the lack of respect for the law necessarily entails, in Rousseau's eyes, a form of ignorance and submission to one's passions instead of the preferred autonomy of reason).
Societies and groups can differ in the extent to which they are based upon predominantly \"self-regarding\" (individualistic, and arguably self-interested) rather than \"other-regarding\" (group-oriented, and group, or society-minded) behavior. Ruth Benedict made a distinction, relevant in this context, between \"guilt\" societies (e.g., medieval Europe) with an \"internal reference standard\Japan, \"bringing shame upon one's ancestors\") as opposed to an \"external reference standard\where people look to their peers for feedback on whether an action is \"acceptable\" or not (also known as \"group-think\").
The extent to which society or groups are \"individualistic\" can vary from time to time, and from country to country. For example, Japanese society is more group-oriented .Compare individualistic culture.
John Kenneth Galbraith made a classic distinction between \"private affluence and public squalor\" in the USA, and private squalor and public affluence in (for example) Europe, and there is a correlation between individualism and degrees of public-sector intervention and taxation.
Individualism is often contrasted either with totalitarianism or with collectivism, but in fact there is a spectrum of behaviors at the societal level ranging from highly individualistic societies through mixed societies (a term the UK has used[citation
needed] in the post-World War II period) to collectivist. Also, many collectivists (particularly supporters of collectivist anarchism or libertarian socialism) point to the enormous differences between liberty-minded collectivism and totalitarian practices. Individualism, sometimes closely associated with certain variants of anarchism or liberalism, typically takes it for granted that individuals know best and that public authority or society has the right to interfere in the person's decision-making process only when a very compelling need to do so arises (and maybe not even in those circumstances). This type of argument can occur in policy debates regarding regulation of industries, as well as in relation to personal choice of lifestyle.
2.5 The assurance of individualism
The American people could carry out individualism so severely and don't need to resort to anyone based on its systematic institution on assurance.
America has a useful and functional assurance of law. As we all know, America is a jural country. Being a world super country, it has the most systematic law which provide some assurance about people's freedom, rights, and interest. People can do anything for himself which is consented by law.
America has a integrated assurance of medical treatment. The American people have a very integrated welfare system, they will pay little money, even no money, if they've accomplished their assurances.
America also has a impeccable educational assurance. Because of this perfect educational system, there's almost no illiterate in America. Citizens could apply to attend to a relevant university to get a higher education after their compulsory education.
In other respects, American government has offer some functional assurances on the rivalry between enterprises or personal pioneering work. So the American people are capable to realize their dream by their efforts without others' help, which is also the cause of American dream.
3 Conclusion
Individualism and collectivism are conflicting views of the nature of humans, society and the relationship between them.
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.
Generally speaking. America is a democratic country, and its citizens come from all around the world, so it might be the most complicated nation. Different nation can deal with each other peacefully, and make progress altogether, which are deeply influenced by the spread of its individualism. As a new Chinese generation, we are supposed to absorb the advantageous and beneficial components of American individualism. Moreover, we ought to absorb the self-efforts, and put it into practice in our daily life for the purpose of our personal ideals and the rise of our motherland.
References
[1] 杨云. 美国“个人主义”文化研究. 重庆工学院学报(社会科学版), Journal of Chongqing Institute of Technology(Social Science Edition), 编辑部邮箱 2008年 01期
[2] 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, Journal of Social Science of Jiamusi University, 编辑部邮箱 2007年 03期
[3] 李建红. 论美国文化中的个人主义表现. 湖南工程学院学报(社会科学版), Journal of Hunan Institute of Engineering, 编辑部邮箱 2004年 02期
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