THE IMBALANCE BETWEEN INDIVIDUALISM AND COLLECTIVISM IN AMERICA

One of the main dichotomies of human life is the competition between the need and desires of individuals versus the needs and desires of the group or collective. Individualism and collectivism are opposite ideologies or concepts that each help promote the survival and success of human life. To exist in either extreme is a bad for humanity. Thus, a society or people need to find the proper balance in order to maximize both the short and long-term viability of its people.

In America, the system heralds and promotes the concept of the individual and his or her freedom. This is one of the things that makes America so enjoyable and attractive to people. However, in every action, one must always look for the tradeoff reaction. The tradeoff reaction of promoting individualism is that it erodes submission to collective phenomenon, interests and institutions. Learned cultural and social behavior is an example of a collective phenomenon. For example, Southern Hospitality, respect of elders, respect for women, chivalry, being obedient to parents. These are all learned social behavior that is taught via collective culture. Also, collectivism can manifest as institutions, such as the family unit, which is simply a collective arrangement to promote the viability of children.

When individualism is promoted, as it has been in our society, it becomes part and parcel with the erosion of the above mentioned collective phenomenon of tradition, culture, family and group values. Thus, as individuals become more satisfied with their personal lives, they become less satisfied with the collective direction of the society...or everyone else besides them. What they fail to realize, however, is that latter is the creation of the former. People are happier with their personal lives because of their freedoms, but everyone doing their own thing sacrifices the ability of the society to control the collective direction and fate of the masses.

It’s akin the problem of traffic congestion. People want the freedom that comes with driving their own cars to and from work. However, metropolitan governments and councils want to promote the collective good of non congested roads and traffic via collective transportation systems. If individualism wins out and everyone chooses to drive their own vehicles, there freedom creates the collective problem of congested roads and traffic. Thus, their problems with congestion come as a direct resultant or tradeoff of their choices of individuality. It's circular causation.

In a nation of individuality, the only thing that holds society collective interest becomes its laws. If an act is not illegal and there is a benefit to the individual entity and a cost to the collective, the calculus will always lean heavily toward giving the individual the benefit. Thus, in an individualistic society, one cannot expect moral and ethical concerns for the collective, not enforced by laws, to usurp the benefit individual entities can gain to themselves from certain acts and behavior. Take as example negative rap music, which is a lucrative industry, but also misogynistic and civility eroding lyrics. The music industry and artist both benefit from this and it adds to the nations GDP, but it also produces a moral and social cost to the collective. Therefore, the promotion of individuality trumps the collective conscerns when the behavior is not illegal, most often. Expectations should therefore be managed accordingly, because one cannot have the benefit of individuality and freedom, without the associated cost.

People like to lament how at this point in time, America is the greatest nation on earth. However, the true worth or value of something cannot be measured until its costs are reconciled with the benefits, the debits balanced against the credits and the reactions fully manifest from actions. In the interim, things can appear to have a greater worth or value than they actually do, because the cost or reaction is not real time. Thus,leaving the present with only benefit and few, if any, cost. In such a society, where cost and reactions are conserved or pushed into the future, the future generations will bear the burdens of our benefits, to their detriment. Its kind of like the burdens that present white America refuses to accept, from past white Americas exploitation and mistreatment of blacks.

This nation has reached the point of diminishing returns. Its virtues and things that have made is so attractive are now things are causing the erosion of the nation.