The Psychological Roots of Human Development

In recent years, culture has entered the mainstream of psychology, with the concepts of individualism and collectivism playing prominent roles. Triandis (1995) claims that there is more cross-cultural research on individualism-collectivism than on any other psychological dimension, and Oyserman, Coon, and Kemmelmeier (2002) cite hundreds of studies dealing with it. Greenfield (2000) sees individualism-collectivism as the “deep structure” of cultural differences, from which all other differences evolved. Western social analysis has long emphasized the contrast between an individual and a collective focus.

Durkheim (1988 [1893]) contrasted the intimate, fixed, and holistic ties between similar others in “segmented societies” (which he labeled “mechanical solidarity”) and the looser, flexible, and specific ties between dissimilar others in “functionally differentiated” societies (which he labeled “organic solidarity”). Durkheim considered the transition from mechanical to organic solidarity a general aspect of modernization, arguing that it replaces collective patterns of self-identification with more individualistic ones. Weber (1958 [1904]) held that a key difference between Protestant and Catholic societies was the individual fo-cus of the former versus the collective focus of the latter. Tönnies (1955 [1887]) emphasized the distinction between Gemeinschaft and Gesellschaft, or community and association. Community reflects intimate and holistic “bonding ties” that lead to very strong ingroup cohesion but also to closed, inward-looking groups. Association involves looser and more-specific “bridging ties” that connect individuals across the borders of social circles based on shared commitments to common interests. “Community” fosters collectivist identities, whereas “association” fosters individualistic identities.