美国个人主义价值观
----以《老友记》为例
摘要：个人主义作为一种意识形态与价值观，可以说是美国人生活的主导价值观，业己发展成为美国文化的核心。尤其是自二战以来，个人主义有着更为明显的发展势头与突出的特点，对社会发展和人们的生活态度与生活方式产生了一定程度的影响。本文在此背景之下，从美国个人主义价值观的相关概念与理论出发，探究了美国个人主义价值观的特点，并且以美国情景喜剧 《老友记》为例，通过剧中六个好朋友在家庭、事业、爱情婚姻等方面的种种选择来研究美国个人主义价值观。
摘要：个人主义价值观；美国文化；《老友记》
Abstract: Individualism as a kind of ideology and values, can be said to be the leading value of American life, and has become the core of American culture. Especially since the Second World War, individualism has a more obvious and prominent characteristics of the momentum of development, social development and people's life attitude and life style to a certain extent. Under this background, starting from the related concept of American individualism and theory, explores the characteristics of American individualism, and the American sitcom "Friends" as an example, through the six good friends all sorts of choices in family, career, love and marriage to the study of American individualism.
Keyword: Individualism; American culture; "Friends"
1、Introduction
1.1 Background
After the world entered the new millennium, globalization has accelerated the flow of cultural communications. But globalization is also a two-edged sword. The negative side of it is the increased chance of conflicts in cultural exchanges. Just as Samuel P. Huntington observed, “The people of different civilizations have different views on the relations between God and man, the individual and the group, the citizen and the state, parents and children, husband and wife, liberty and authority, equality and hierarchy. These differences are the product of centuries. They will not soon disappear.”(Huntington, 1993:3) Geert Hofstede mentioned, “Culture is more often a source of conflict than of synergy. Cultural differences are a nuisance at best and often a disaster." (Hofstede, 1993:91) Mutual impacts between the Eastern and Western cultures are beginning to be recognized as a fundamental force directing the international life pattern. Intercultural communication is essentially a social process and values such as individualism and collectivism play an important role in it.
The individualism-collectivism dichotomy is an important element to understand the Western and Eastern cultures, because it tells a major difference between the two cultures. The individualism-collectivism dichotomy has been widely used to explain cultural differences in behaviors. Hofstede defines individualism and collectivism as follows:“Individualism pertains to societies in which the ties between individuals are loose: Everyone is expected to look after himself or herself and his or her immediate family. Collectivism as its opposite pertains to societies in which people from birth onwards are integrated into strong cohesive in-groups, which throughout people‟s lifetime continue to protect them in exchange for unquestioning loyalty.” (Hofstede, 1991:51)
Collectivism and individualism actually act as shapers of society and affect social interactions and communications. As the principles underlying individualism and collectivism between the West and East are entirely different, the communication patterns and styles between the two sides are also entirely different. A lack of
awareness and misinformation are the causes of many cross-cultural conflicts. Therefore an understanding of the individualism or collectivism of another culture helps to predict the behaviors of people from it and then enable people to decide and adjust their approach to ensure a successful intercultural communication.
1.2 Significance of This Study
Individualism is one of the cores of American culture. Americans believe in equality, freedom and democracy, and they also pay attention to the role of the individual in the social and political life. Both Americans and foreign observers are keen to explore the social life of the American nation under the title of "individualism". Some have called it a remarkable achievement in the United States, and some critics argue that this is the root cause of America's backwardness and the relative signs of its civilization. Despite the strengths and weaknesses of all accounts, but individualism is still struggling Americans slogan, in the school of Western individualism has representative and dominance, to become the 20th century western capitalist ideology of the dominant ideology and core value view. It can be said that regardless of American history or contemporary American society, individualism is embodied in every aspect of American life, so the choice of this subject has certain research value. The study of American contemporary individualism can better grasp the development context of American society, understand the phenomenon of American social life, and help Chinese and American cultures communicate and learn from each other.
2、Literature Review
2.1 The Definitions of Individualism
Individualism is used by anthropologists to designate one of the basic orientations of some cultures. There are several definitions of individualism made by scholars and dictionaries.
1) Goleman highlights some of the characteristics of the cultures that value individualism: People‟s personal goals take priority over their allegiance to groups like the family or the employer. The loyalty of individualists to a given group is very weak, they feel they belong to many groups and are apt to change their membership as
it suits them, switching churches, for example, or leaving one employer for another. (Goleman, 1990:40)
2) Gould and Kolb defined individualism as “belief that the individual is an end in himself [or herself], and as such ought to realize his /or her/ “self” and cultivate his /or her/ own judgment, notwithstanding the weight of pervasive social pressure in the direction of conformity.” (William, 1992:305)
3) Individualism refers to the doctrine, spelled out in detail by the seventeenth-century English philosopher John Locke, that each individual is unique, special, completely different from all other individuals, and “the basic unit of nature.” (Samovar, 2000:62)
4) Webster‟s New World Dictionary (Third College Edition) explains the definition of individualism as follow:
1. The conception that all values, rights, duties originate in individuals
2. A theory maintaining the political and economic independence of the individual and stressing individual initiative, action and interest
3. Individual character
4. Individual peculiarity
5. The doctrine that individual freedom in economic enterprise should not be restricted by government or social regulation
6. The doctrine that the state exists for individual and not the individual for the state
7. The doctrine that self-interest is the proper goal of all human action
5) According to Webster‟s New Collegiate Dictionary, individualism is “a theory maintaining the political and economic independence of the individual and stressing individual initiative, action and interests; also conduct or practice guided by such a theory.” The pursuit of individual rights and interests is considered utterly legitimate. Self-actualization and the maximal realization of individual potential are supreme aims in life.
In the western world, individualism is described as a good word. In Europe, individualism came into being as the opposition to medieval divine authority center and feudalism center: it helped the development of capitalism greatly. So the word “individualism” is endowed with positive meaning. While in China, individualism is
understood as “thinking and doing things from individual aspects, and putting emphasis on individual interests instead of the collective one, only thinking about oneself, not others.” (《现代汉语词典》,1997:426)
2.2 American Individualism
Americans value independent, self-reliant, and ambitious personalities. The values, such as privacy, self-reliance, equality and competition can best describe the spirit of individualism. “In America each person is viewed as having a unique set of talents and potentials. The striving for self-realization is accompanied by a subjective sense of rightness and personal well-being.” (Waterman, 1984:201) Individualism encourages people to express their own opinions and to make their own decisions independent of external influences, and highlights the ideal of a „self-made man‟ who achieves success by the sweat of his own brow. In America, it is encouraged that a man should move from the bottom of the society by his own efforts other than by birth. It is a widespread belief in America that Americans have Alger‟s myth; they believe that every cowboy can dream of becoming a great man, even the president of the country, from rags to riches. And everything is possible if he really has talent and will, in spite of his humble social position at the beginning.
The proverb “God helps those who help themselves” calls attention to the strong belief in America that people should show individual initiatives. In the United States, people are encouraged to “speak up” and make sure their individual views are heard. “Pull yourself up by your own bootstraps” also manifests the belief in individual initiative. The proverb “A man‟s home is his castle” tells us about the value of privacy.
2.3 Hofstede’s Theory of Individualism-Collectivism
Individualism-Collectivism has been widely used to explain cultural differences in behaviors. Geert Hofstede conducted perhaps the most comprehensive study of how values in the workplace are influenced by culture. From 1967 to 1973, while working at IBM as a psychologist, he collected and analyzed data from over 100,000 individuals in multinational organizations from forty countries. He then used
statistical methods to analyze the responses to the surveys.
From these results, and later additions, Hofstede developed a model that identifies four primary dimensions to differentiate cultures. He found a way to assign each country a score for each part of contrasting values. The advantage of this method is that it makes it possible to identify differences in cultural values more precisely. Individualism (IDV) focuses on the degree the society reinforces individual or collective achievement and interpersonal relationships. The individualism index measures the extent to which the interests of the individual are considered to be more important than the interests of the group.
3、The characteristics of American contemporary individualism
3.1 Different attitudes towards Intimate distance
Proxemics means a study of how people keep distance with others and the effect of the mentioned distance on communication. In different cultures, the matched proxemics patterns vary according to the existing differences between different kinds of cultures. In Hall‟s article which published in 1959, he explained the four-part classification of distance among persons from different cultural backgrounds. Different people will choose specific distance that all depends on the relationship of the two sides in the communicating activities. Also, another reason for the distance which we chose is the feelings towards the other people at a particular time.
Figure1: Social distance zones
(Data source: Hall, The Silent Language. New York: AnehorBooks.1959:128) We can divide the distance into Intimate distance, Personal distance, Social distance and Public distance. All cultures would distinguish the above four kinds basic categories in spite of the different amount of space varies. It is known to us all that proxemics distances choose by Americans do not similar to the other cultures. In general, Chinese social distance is much shorter than American ones. While American in a social occasions, they will stand further than our Chinese do for the reason that they pay more attention to the privacy. This kind of distribution can be rooted from the cultural backgrounds. In America, the mentioned intimate distance usually can be found between couples, parents and children. Besides, this intimate distance is also common within the friends of the same gender in China.
Personal space is a portable territory with invisible boundaries that can make us feel safe and reliable. Also, this boundaries can be expanded or contracted depends on the specific situation. Also, different cultures have different rules and measures for personal space. Specifically speaking, it means how close they will stand when people touch and speak to the other .Meanwhile, how close they will sit and how to behave can reflect the boundaries of personal space. People usually seldom have a clear awareness of this rule, but people will feel uncomfortable if these rules have been broken. When we felt our territory has been invaded, different people will act in
various ways. Our response towards the invasion may illustrate our cultural backgrounds to some degree. What‟s more, Americans hold an idea that the locations of their boundaries contain their skin. It means that the personal space of Americans has extended to even clothes and a small space around their body. This kind of space cannot be broken by a stranger, even a glare from a stranger be regarded as an invasion of their personal space. When this invasion comes to Chinese, their reaction may be a withdrawal behaviors or tolerance for the fear that strong reactions may broke the situation. (Hofstede, G., 2006:11-19)
3. 2 Attach importance to self realization and self centered
From the 70‟s to the late 80‟s, American individualism has a new feature, that is, personal doctrine. An important form of expression is the self center. In American culture, people focus on self realization, which is worth considering from all aspects. Therefore, people have to work hard, compete with others, fight for more money, get a decent position in society.
Firstly, their goal in life is to pursue material wealth and social status. In the 1960s, people in material wealth pursuit dismissive, think postwar American society pursuit of material culture of that society has become callous. In seventy or eighty years, people have made no secret of their pursuit of material pleasures. Their slogan is "eat the best, make the best of it, and wear the best". Today, the American pursues the pleasure of life by buying real estate, driving the car, and travelling around the world. They pay more attention to their current achievements, their attitude is not the Protestant thrift, hard work, but the value of material enjoyment, tend to seek personal development, self realization as the core. / they in the pursuit of material wealth and status for college, efforts to get a college degree, to some vocational schools, vocational skills learning, women are much more efforts to improve and perfect themselves, the purpose is to earn more money for their professional roles. Some people call this stage of individualism "new narcissism".
Secondly, their increasingly indifferent attitudes towards political problems, and obsessed with their own future and career. They are on the government's attitude is the
soul of love hate mixed, eager to have leaders, but do not want to interference. Americans are full of personal spirit, strong sense of independence, they cherish the freedom of the individual, in the pursuit of leadership also believes that the best government is the least management of the government". Today, the ideal American politicians are few, and the politicians are increasingly bureaucratic corruption and degeneration. Many politicians have become too concerned about the narrow interests of individuals, their pursuit of personal rights, wealth and the pursuit of a more significant social status. As a result, they are not interested in politics and lose confidence in the government. In addition, from since the 1980s, the United States government debt is more and more high building, social crime rate remains high, family's structure is more fragile, a growing gap between the rich and poor, all these lead to faith in the government further decline, devoting more attention to their own career success. Continue to pursue their own future, the cause of the higher than all the position, in the concept of materialism and consumerism. They focus on the utilitarian thought and behavior of material wealth to show off, pay attention to self, eager to satisfy personal desires, to the individual as the center, family values and moral concept and lax.
3.3 Pursuit of self perfection and focus on mutual cooperation
Since the 90's, it is an important turning point in American history. If the 1960s and 80 years were to expand freely and individualism, then in 1990s, Americans increasingly felt the need to revise individualism. Individualism in this period is more likely to be self perfection and focus on cooperation. That is to say, people not only pay attention to their material life satisfaction, and they pay more attention to improve the quality of spiritual life, is also concerned about the interests of others, the society and the state, pay attention to cooperate with each other.
Firstly, strive for self perfection. Since 1990s, with the rapid development of society, people's autonomy has been greatly improved, and self consciousness has been strengthened. At the same time, knowledge is growing in a geometric progression, technology is developing rapidly, information could be overwhelmed,
rich and colorful life, people's creativity and individuality can fully display. Americans in this period focus on the quality of life, the pursuit of the best quality of life, / can make people enjoy rich success, but also without losing the soul of freedom. In the work, hard work, income quite abundant, but it is by no means the slave of money, for whom life is not just working, which with the 1980s Americans is different, they will not to earn money at the expense of their own to enjoy life fun. Today's Americans are increasingly competitive, so they have to work hard to achieve themselves. They believe in the value of money, but they also use it to help themselves, to improve themselves, not to indulge in self - indulgence.
Secondly, realize self value in the cooperation. No matter how Americans praise the spirit of self-reliance, they do not think that they can live a good life in isolation. The changes of the times and the living environment make the personal values of the people gradually change, and they are enriched and perfected. In 1990s Americans attach great importance to self value, improve themselves at the same time, also deeply aware of the personal self value is part of his social value. The practice of self value is a process of social practice, the individual value is the only standard to measure it to others, make contributions to the society. On the importance of individual freedom at the same time, Americans emphasize personal freedom and responsibility together; only use only play a role. If there is no sense of responsibility, the freedom of the individual is only a selfish. In any case, American is common interests unite community‟s together will be weakened. Thus, for Americans, now to maximize personal freedom, it means responsibility. And personal success for the Americans, it means to seek cooperation, in cooperation to achieve success.
4、The embodiment of American individualism values in Friends
4.1 The self-independence in family
Society is composed of every family; family relationship is undoubtedly a very important aspect in the culture. In the concept of the American people, and between people and people, between parents and children are equal and independent. American culture emphasizes respect for personal choice, pay attention to the cultivation of
personal independence. Americans have a sense of independence from a young age. The concept of the American‟s life, work, ideas and other fields, so does the family relation. The six characters in “Friends” all have their own work, both do not live with their parents, have their own space, do not interfere with each other's private life, rely on their own efforts in the economy completely independent. They seldom discuss with their parents, even if such as marriage, event, are decided by themselves, completely independent in personality. For example, Chandler and Monica decides to marry was whether to invite his parents and hesitant, Rachel at the wedding found she didn't love fiancé who is lack of taste, and just resolutely runaway, and select to live with friends, not to return for his maiden. It seems unbelievable in the Chinese family, even it is difficult to accept.
It is due to the economy and the personality independence, the family in the United States, there does not have the hierarchy of the older and younger between parents and children, this is very obvious in "friends". Chandler‟s mom is beautiful, fashion, and avant-garde, don‟t like to be the elders just get along with the six characters, and more like a friend, once even accidentally kisses Ross. The relation between parents and children can talk about any topic just like a friend, and do not feel wrong.
4.2 Self struggle in the cause
Individualism emphasizes through individual struggle, personal self design, achieving individual value. It means to through their own efforts to change their social status, to realize the dream of life. This is what people often talked about and the so-called “American dream”. We can say that the American dream is a concentrated expression of individualism. The president of the United States, including President Obama, is born a poor family. But with their self fighting spirit is a step toward success, becoming the model of "American Dream".
Thus, in the American view, self struggle, popular as unalterable principles. The six friends in “Friends” all obtain their success in the cause through their own efforts to. The most worth mentioning is Rachel, she is the daughter of a wealthy family,
small food, took off after the encouragement of friends, decided to cut the bank credit card from her father, and take the first step of independent living. First, worked as a waitress, although not very good, also happiness within. Then, worked as a fashion consultant in Fortunata and Bloomingdal, gradually found the direction of life and seriously involved in her work, finally become a talented manager. Monica do anything with unyielding spirit, has been working in the food and beverage industry veteran when service, chef, food critic etc. and eventually become a senior Western Chef, not only for a space for one person in the restaurant industry, but also changed the prejudices of their own parents. Phoebe has the most difficult life, buskers, driver, secretary, permanent massage. Although she is not so successful as her friends, she is always optimistic and independent. Joey is a typical representative of non trained and non heavyweight class actor, has been keen to show and fame. In order to make a living have done many part-time jobs, including department stores try to spray perfume, advertising model, museum announcer and so on, but never give up your dream, and finally become a soap opera star. Chandler is well educated, in charge, a company in the data Department through the efforts, as vice president of the company, in the six is a relatively stable. Ross has the tallest degree in Six Characters, and worked as a Museum archaeologist, then he served as a university lecturer and gets a stable income. In spite of the different works of the Six person, but one point is the same, that is, they have to rely on their own hard work to achieve the dream in the heart, and enjoy it. There has no distinction of their dreams, in the exchanges of six persons, not because of the merits of the nature of work and affect their friendship. The equality, independence, and mutual respect between friends should be promoted.
4.3 Self Selection in Love and Marriage
It is a very important feature of Individualism to put emphasis on individual freedom and self selection, which is in the American concept of love and marriage was particularly prominent. The American attitude toward love is open and frank. When the spouse, as long as they feel happy, they that can be together, and the factors such as family background, work, education and other objective factors is less
considered. And later in marriage, if you do not love each other, or feel unhappy, they can be separated, they will not consider the child or influence in society like barely go on.
A major part of the “Friends” is the love experiences of six friend on the bumpy road. There have been three marriages of Ross which made him to be one of the most difficult people. The first and second marriages are episodic, and emotional entanglements between Rachel have been throughout the entire series, after skelter, eventually married lovers. Between Chandler and Monica built on friendship love and marriage is the most stable in the six. Although two people before each made a lot of friends, but they eventually found the complementary character of each other is the most appropriate. Phoebe feels it is not married who, for love and love is not indifferent. But when she meets her true love Mike, although the twists and turns, eventually into the marriage hall. Only six not married Joey, although he made many girlfriends but never love him and this the imprint is engraved on my heart. Enjoy today tomorrow's personality are not unrelated. In any case, everyone according to their own wishes in love on the road made their own choice. Found in the play can be, everyone in the emphasis on self selection and is fully considered the feelings of others, respect the choices of others. For example, before Ross and Joey's former girlfriend decided to further exchanges, make sure to accept Joey on the matter.
5、Influence of American individualism
5.1 The positive influence of individualism
Firstly, encourage competition and promote economic development "should be said that the individual competition is a positive attitude towards life, can improve the efficiency of individual and the whole society as a whole, the economic and social progress. Americans believe that competition can maximize the role of individuals, it is challenge to every person, and every person should be forced to create wealth. The American liberal political thought, the economic and social laissez-faire on the concept of freedom and equality provides the basis for the ideal condition and the most fundamental is between people and group competition. Under this kind of
atmosphere, people will give full play to one‟s ability to participate in the competition. Seek success. Competition will inevitably become the most effective means towards its goal of everyone.
For individuals, the pressure of competition will make people have a sense of urgency, a sense of crisis and sense of challenge, and ultimately arouse their initiative, give full play to his subjective initiative, enthusiasm and creativity. At the same time, the competition can let a person see their wisdom and ability and strength. Free competition constitute the individual pursuit of the ideal of the internal driving force, to encourage and promote the individual potential, for individuals to achieve their goals and develop their own capacity, the indirect competition can promote the common development of the whole.
For society, competition can make the society full of vitality. Through the principle of “social competition mechanism”, society can obtain rapid development. In 1990s, there aroused an unprecedented good momentum of the economic development in the United States, because the United States government followed the principle of “competition efficiency”, reduce national mandatory behavior, the introduction of competition mechanism in the field of public services, so as to improve the efficiency of government public management," competition is a kind of invisible rules, it leads to emergence of an efficient result.
Secondly, the pursuit of success has promoted the progress of society. Americans put the pursuit of success as their spiritual integral part, become their behavior standards and their short-term goal and the long-term ideal, which is the core power of their own and drive of social development. The pursuit of success, is the people to improve the living conditions and the future with hope and confidence, never satisfied with the status quo, so that Americans may be the world's most willing to take risks and try new things in the nation. Americans believe that birth and family is not important, self value mainly depends on the individual achievement. A person should have their own goal, so the American people have a strong desire to succeed. The success of American desire in various areas to seek, continuous improvement, at the same time, the frequent promotion opportunities and a variety of successful examples
in turn stimulate the desire to succeed more, start another new pursuit. The struggle for a successful struggle mode again and again and again, the American society is full of vitality.
5.2 The negative influence of individualism
The influence of American individualism penetrated into all fields of social life, but the United States, individualism is included so much ambiguity, contains so intractable contradiction and paradox, so, even if you want to maintain it, the analysis also requires that we are critical to it. Individualism in American history has played a positive role, for social prosperity and progress, but too much emphasis on individualism, individual rights and personal freedom without restraint, also has negative influence on the development of American society.
Firstly, the pursuit of individual freedom led to "American disease". The United States is indeed a relatively free country, but due to "excessive freedom", and to society in many "social disease", such as drug abuse, crime, violence, homosexuality phenomenon in American society is common. Due to the influence of individualist values, many Americans "have funs" pursuit desperately to experience a variety of stimuli, drug abuse is one of the important ways. There are many factors that cause drug use, but individualism advocated free indulgence is one of the main reasons. Although the United States is very rich in substance, in this individualistic oriented, highly competitive countries, the fast pace of life, work pressure,, spirit of high tension, some of the people by means of drugs to just relax their anxiety mood.
Secondly,, Interpersonal Indifference. Interpersonal indifference. Personal independence go will weaken the society for his control, but also shaken the dependence of the individual to society, people may feel more lonely, but he has more free space for community life of the people, loneliness is the price of freedom for the individual to pay him. Americans see personal independence and autonomy is the highest value, respect for me, and respect for individual personality, but in such a process, the "I" is elevated to a supreme position, thus to "solipsism". Although Americans participate in various social activities, but because the individualism
mentality has led many people to have a sense of loneliness, and with the increase of age is more prominent.
6、Conclusion
As the core value and concept of American culture, individualism has deeply rooted in American life, work, thoughts and other fields. "Friends" individualist values embodied in family, career, love, marriage, etc., contribute to a better understanding of Americans culture behind the words and deeds, and a better understanding of the essence of American culture. However, we should keep a righteous attitude towards individualism, do not blindly worship. With a dynamic vision to dialectical treat American values of individualism, only by this way, can we get a more comprehensive and profound understanding of American culture and its values.
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美国个人主义价值观
----以《老友记》为例
摘要：个人主义作为一种意识形态与价值观，可以说是美国人生活的主导价值观，业己发展成为美国文化的核心。尤其是自二战以来，个人主义有着更为明显的发展势头与突出的特点，对社会发展和人们的生活态度与生活方式产生了一定程度的影响。本文在此背景之下，从美国个人主义价值观的相关概念与理论出发，探究了美国个人主义价值观的特点，并且以美国情景喜剧 《老友记》为例，通过剧中六个好朋友在家庭、事业、爱情婚姻等方面的种种选择来研究美国个人主义价值观。
摘要：个人主义价值观；美国文化；《老友记》
Abstract: Individualism as a kind of ideology and values, can be said to be the leading value of American life, and has become the core of American culture. Especially since the Second World War, individualism has a more obvious and prominent characteristics of the momentum of development, social development and people's life attitude and life style to a certain extent. Under this background, starting from the related concept of American individualism and theory, explores the characteristics of American individualism, and the American sitcom "Friends" as an example, through the six good friends all sorts of choices in family, career, love and marriage to the study of American individualism.
Keyword: Individualism; American culture; "Friends"
1、Introduction
1.1 Background
After the world entered the new millennium, globalization has accelerated the flow of cultural communications. But globalization is also a two-edged sword. The negative side of it is the increased chance of conflicts in cultural exchanges. Just as Samuel P. Huntington observed, “The people of different civilizations have different views on the relations between God and man, the individual and the group, the citizen and the state, parents and children, husband and wife, liberty and authority, equality and hierarchy. These differences are the product of centuries. They will not soon disappear.”(Huntington, 1993:3) Geert Hofstede mentioned, “Culture is more often a source of conflict than of synergy. Cultural differences are a nuisance at best and often a disaster." (Hofstede, 1993:91) Mutual impacts between the Eastern and Western cultures are beginning to be recognized as a fundamental force directing the international life pattern. Intercultural communication is essentially a social process and values such as individualism and collectivism play an important role in it.
The individualism-collectivism dichotomy is an important element to understand the Western and Eastern cultures, because it tells a major difference between the two cultures. The individualism-collectivism dichotomy has been widely used to explain cultural differences in behaviors. Hofstede defines individualism and collectivism as follows:“Individualism pertains to societies in which the ties between individuals are loose: Everyone is expected to look after himself or herself and his or her immediate family. Collectivism as its opposite pertains to societies in which people from birth onwards are integrated into strong cohesive in-groups, which throughout people‟s lifetime continue to protect them in exchange for unquestioning loyalty.” (Hofstede, 1991:51)
Collectivism and individualism actually act as shapers of society and affect social interactions and communications. As the principles underlying individualism and collectivism between the West and East are entirely different, the communication patterns and styles between the two sides are also entirely different. A lack of
awareness and misinformation are the causes of many cross-cultural conflicts. Therefore an understanding of the individualism or collectivism of another culture helps to predict the behaviors of people from it and then enable people to decide and adjust their approach to ensure a successful intercultural communication.
1.2 Significance of This Study
Individualism is one of the cores of American culture. Americans believe in equality, freedom and democracy, and they also pay attention to the role of the individual in the social and political life. Both Americans and foreign observers are keen to explore the social life of the American nation under the title of "individualism". Some have called it a remarkable achievement in the United States, and some critics argue that this is the root cause of America's backwardness and the relative signs of its civilization. Despite the strengths and weaknesses of all accounts, but individualism is still struggling Americans slogan, in the school of Western individualism has representative and dominance, to become the 20th century western capitalist ideology of the dominant ideology and core value view. It can be said that regardless of American history or contemporary American society, individualism is embodied in every aspect of American life, so the choice of this subject has certain research value. The study of American contemporary individualism can better grasp the development context of American society, understand the phenomenon of American social life, and help Chinese and American cultures communicate and learn from each other.
2、Literature Review
2.1 The Definitions of Individualism
Individualism is used by anthropologists to designate one of the basic orientations of some cultures. There are several definitions of individualism made by scholars and dictionaries.
1) Goleman highlights some of the characteristics of the cultures that value individualism: People‟s personal goals take priority over their allegiance to groups like the family or the employer. The loyalty of individualists to a given group is very weak, they feel they belong to many groups and are apt to change their membership as
it suits them, switching churches, for example, or leaving one employer for another. (Goleman, 1990:40)
2) Gould and Kolb defined individualism as “belief that the individual is an end in himself [or herself], and as such ought to realize his /or her/ “self” and cultivate his /or her/ own judgment, notwithstanding the weight of pervasive social pressure in the direction of conformity.” (William, 1992:305)
3) Individualism refers to the doctrine, spelled out in detail by the seventeenth-century English philosopher John Locke, that each individual is unique, special, completely different from all other individuals, and “the basic unit of nature.” (Samovar, 2000:62)
4) Webster‟s New World Dictionary (Third College Edition) explains the definition of individualism as follow:
1. The conception that all values, rights, duties originate in individuals
2. A theory maintaining the political and economic independence of the individual and stressing individual initiative, action and interest
3. Individual character
4. Individual peculiarity
5. The doctrine that individual freedom in economic enterprise should not be restricted by government or social regulation
6. The doctrine that the state exists for individual and not the individual for the state
7. The doctrine that self-interest is the proper goal of all human action
5) According to Webster‟s New Collegiate Dictionary, individualism is “a theory maintaining the political and economic independence of the individual and stressing individual initiative, action and interests; also conduct or practice guided by such a theory.” The pursuit of individual rights and interests is considered utterly legitimate. Self-actualization and the maximal realization of individual potential are supreme aims in life.
In the western world, individualism is described as a good word. In Europe, individualism came into being as the opposition to medieval divine authority center and feudalism center: it helped the development of capitalism greatly. So the word “individualism” is endowed with positive meaning. While in China, individualism is
understood as “thinking and doing things from individual aspects, and putting emphasis on individual interests instead of the collective one, only thinking about oneself, not others.” (《现代汉语词典》,1997:426)
2.2 American Individualism
Americans value independent, self-reliant, and ambitious personalities. The values, such as privacy, self-reliance, equality and competition can best describe the spirit of individualism. “In America each person is viewed as having a unique set of talents and potentials. The striving for self-realization is accompanied by a subjective sense of rightness and personal well-being.” (Waterman, 1984:201) Individualism encourages people to express their own opinions and to make their own decisions independent of external influences, and highlights the ideal of a „self-made man‟ who achieves success by the sweat of his own brow. In America, it is encouraged that a man should move from the bottom of the society by his own efforts other than by birth. It is a widespread belief in America that Americans have Alger‟s myth; they believe that every cowboy can dream of becoming a great man, even the president of the country, from rags to riches. And everything is possible if he really has talent and will, in spite of his humble social position at the beginning.
The proverb “God helps those who help themselves” calls attention to the strong belief in America that people should show individual initiatives. In the United States, people are encouraged to “speak up” and make sure their individual views are heard. “Pull yourself up by your own bootstraps” also manifests the belief in individual initiative. The proverb “A man‟s home is his castle” tells us about the value of privacy.
2.3 Hofstede’s Theory of Individualism-Collectivism
Individualism-Collectivism has been widely used to explain cultural differences in behaviors. Geert Hofstede conducted perhaps the most comprehensive study of how values in the workplace are influenced by culture. From 1967 to 1973, while working at IBM as a psychologist, he collected and analyzed data from over 100,000 individuals in multinational organizations from forty countries. He then used
statistical methods to analyze the responses to the surveys.
From these results, and later additions, Hofstede developed a model that identifies four primary dimensions to differentiate cultures. He found a way to assign each country a score for each part of contrasting values. The advantage of this method is that it makes it possible to identify differences in cultural values more precisely. Individualism (IDV) focuses on the degree the society reinforces individual or collective achievement and interpersonal relationships. The individualism index measures the extent to which the interests of the individual are considered to be more important than the interests of the group.
3、The characteristics of American contemporary individualism
3.1 Different attitudes towards Intimate distance
Proxemics means a study of how people keep distance with others and the effect of the mentioned distance on communication. In different cultures, the matched proxemics patterns vary according to the existing differences between different kinds of cultures. In Hall‟s article which published in 1959, he explained the four-part classification of distance among persons from different cultural backgrounds. Different people will choose specific distance that all depends on the relationship of the two sides in the communicating activities. Also, another reason for the distance which we chose is the feelings towards the other people at a particular time.
Figure1: Social distance zones
(Data source: Hall, The Silent Language. New York: AnehorBooks.1959:128) We can divide the distance into Intimate distance, Personal distance, Social distance and Public distance. All cultures would distinguish the above four kinds basic categories in spite of the different amount of space varies. It is known to us all that proxemics distances choose by Americans do not similar to the other cultures. In general, Chinese social distance is much shorter than American ones. While American in a social occasions, they will stand further than our Chinese do for the reason that they pay more attention to the privacy. This kind of distribution can be rooted from the cultural backgrounds. In America, the mentioned intimate distance usually can be found between couples, parents and children. Besides, this intimate distance is also common within the friends of the same gender in China.
Personal space is a portable territory with invisible boundaries that can make us feel safe and reliable. Also, this boundaries can be expanded or contracted depends on the specific situation. Also, different cultures have different rules and measures for personal space. Specifically speaking, it means how close they will stand when people touch and speak to the other .Meanwhile, how close they will sit and how to behave can reflect the boundaries of personal space. People usually seldom have a clear awareness of this rule, but people will feel uncomfortable if these rules have been broken. When we felt our territory has been invaded, different people will act in
various ways. Our response towards the invasion may illustrate our cultural backgrounds to some degree. What‟s more, Americans hold an idea that the locations of their boundaries contain their skin. It means that the personal space of Americans has extended to even clothes and a small space around their body. This kind of space cannot be broken by a stranger, even a glare from a stranger be regarded as an invasion of their personal space. When this invasion comes to Chinese, their reaction may be a withdrawal behaviors or tolerance for the fear that strong reactions may broke the situation. (Hofstede, G., 2006:11-19)
3. 2 Attach importance to self realization and self centered
From the 70‟s to the late 80‟s, American individualism has a new feature, that is, personal doctrine. An important form of expression is the self center. In American culture, people focus on self realization, which is worth considering from all aspects. Therefore, people have to work hard, compete with others, fight for more money, get a decent position in society.
Firstly, their goal in life is to pursue material wealth and social status. In the 1960s, people in material wealth pursuit dismissive, think postwar American society pursuit of material culture of that society has become callous. In seventy or eighty years, people have made no secret of their pursuit of material pleasures. Their slogan is "eat the best, make the best of it, and wear the best". Today, the American pursues the pleasure of life by buying real estate, driving the car, and travelling around the world. They pay more attention to their current achievements, their attitude is not the Protestant thrift, hard work, but the value of material enjoyment, tend to seek personal development, self realization as the core. / they in the pursuit of material wealth and status for college, efforts to get a college degree, to some vocational schools, vocational skills learning, women are much more efforts to improve and perfect themselves, the purpose is to earn more money for their professional roles. Some people call this stage of individualism "new narcissism".
Secondly, their increasingly indifferent attitudes towards political problems, and obsessed with their own future and career. They are on the government's attitude is the
soul of love hate mixed, eager to have leaders, but do not want to interference. Americans are full of personal spirit, strong sense of independence, they cherish the freedom of the individual, in the pursuit of leadership also believes that the best government is the least management of the government". Today, the ideal American politicians are few, and the politicians are increasingly bureaucratic corruption and degeneration. Many politicians have become too concerned about the narrow interests of individuals, their pursuit of personal rights, wealth and the pursuit of a more significant social status. As a result, they are not interested in politics and lose confidence in the government. In addition, from since the 1980s, the United States government debt is more and more high building, social crime rate remains high, family's structure is more fragile, a growing gap between the rich and poor, all these lead to faith in the government further decline, devoting more attention to their own career success. Continue to pursue their own future, the cause of the higher than all the position, in the concept of materialism and consumerism. They focus on the utilitarian thought and behavior of material wealth to show off, pay attention to self, eager to satisfy personal desires, to the individual as the center, family values and moral concept and lax.
3.3 Pursuit of self perfection and focus on mutual cooperation
Since the 90's, it is an important turning point in American history. If the 1960s and 80 years were to expand freely and individualism, then in 1990s, Americans increasingly felt the need to revise individualism. Individualism in this period is more likely to be self perfection and focus on cooperation. That is to say, people not only pay attention to their material life satisfaction, and they pay more attention to improve the quality of spiritual life, is also concerned about the interests of others, the society and the state, pay attention to cooperate with each other.
Firstly, strive for self perfection. Since 1990s, with the rapid development of society, people's autonomy has been greatly improved, and self consciousness has been strengthened. At the same time, knowledge is growing in a geometric progression, technology is developing rapidly, information could be overwhelmed,
rich and colorful life, people's creativity and individuality can fully display. Americans in this period focus on the quality of life, the pursuit of the best quality of life, / can make people enjoy rich success, but also without losing the soul of freedom. In the work, hard work, income quite abundant, but it is by no means the slave of money, for whom life is not just working, which with the 1980s Americans is different, they will not to earn money at the expense of their own to enjoy life fun. Today's Americans are increasingly competitive, so they have to work hard to achieve themselves. They believe in the value of money, but they also use it to help themselves, to improve themselves, not to indulge in self - indulgence.
Secondly, realize self value in the cooperation. No matter how Americans praise the spirit of self-reliance, they do not think that they can live a good life in isolation. The changes of the times and the living environment make the personal values of the people gradually change, and they are enriched and perfected. In 1990s Americans attach great importance to self value, improve themselves at the same time, also deeply aware of the personal self value is part of his social value. The practice of self value is a process of social practice, the individual value is the only standard to measure it to others, make contributions to the society. On the importance of individual freedom at the same time, Americans emphasize personal freedom and responsibility together; only use only play a role. If there is no sense of responsibility, the freedom of the individual is only a selfish. In any case, American is common interests unite community‟s together will be weakened. Thus, for Americans, now to maximize personal freedom, it means responsibility. And personal success for the Americans, it means to seek cooperation, in cooperation to achieve success.
4、The embodiment of American individualism values in Friends
4.1 The self-independence in family
Society is composed of every family; family relationship is undoubtedly a very important aspect in the culture. In the concept of the American people, and between people and people, between parents and children are equal and independent. American culture emphasizes respect for personal choice, pay attention to the cultivation of
personal independence. Americans have a sense of independence from a young age. The concept of the American‟s life, work, ideas and other fields, so does the family relation. The six characters in “Friends” all have their own work, both do not live with their parents, have their own space, do not interfere with each other's private life, rely on their own efforts in the economy completely independent. They seldom discuss with their parents, even if such as marriage, event, are decided by themselves, completely independent in personality. For example, Chandler and Monica decides to marry was whether to invite his parents and hesitant, Rachel at the wedding found she didn't love fiancé who is lack of taste, and just resolutely runaway, and select to live with friends, not to return for his maiden. It seems unbelievable in the Chinese family, even it is difficult to accept.
It is due to the economy and the personality independence, the family in the United States, there does not have the hierarchy of the older and younger between parents and children, this is very obvious in "friends". Chandler‟s mom is beautiful, fashion, and avant-garde, don‟t like to be the elders just get along with the six characters, and more like a friend, once even accidentally kisses Ross. The relation between parents and children can talk about any topic just like a friend, and do not feel wrong.
4.2 Self struggle in the cause
Individualism emphasizes through individual struggle, personal self design, achieving individual value. It means to through their own efforts to change their social status, to realize the dream of life. This is what people often talked about and the so-called “American dream”. We can say that the American dream is a concentrated expression of individualism. The president of the United States, including President Obama, is born a poor family. But with their self fighting spirit is a step toward success, becoming the model of "American Dream".
Thus, in the American view, self struggle, popular as unalterable principles. The six friends in “Friends” all obtain their success in the cause through their own efforts to. The most worth mentioning is Rachel, she is the daughter of a wealthy family,
small food, took off after the encouragement of friends, decided to cut the bank credit card from her father, and take the first step of independent living. First, worked as a waitress, although not very good, also happiness within. Then, worked as a fashion consultant in Fortunata and Bloomingdal, gradually found the direction of life and seriously involved in her work, finally become a talented manager. Monica do anything with unyielding spirit, has been working in the food and beverage industry veteran when service, chef, food critic etc. and eventually become a senior Western Chef, not only for a space for one person in the restaurant industry, but also changed the prejudices of their own parents. Phoebe has the most difficult life, buskers, driver, secretary, permanent massage. Although she is not so successful as her friends, she is always optimistic and independent. Joey is a typical representative of non trained and non heavyweight class actor, has been keen to show and fame. In order to make a living have done many part-time jobs, including department stores try to spray perfume, advertising model, museum announcer and so on, but never give up your dream, and finally become a soap opera star. Chandler is well educated, in charge, a company in the data Department through the efforts, as vice president of the company, in the six is a relatively stable. Ross has the tallest degree in Six Characters, and worked as a Museum archaeologist, then he served as a university lecturer and gets a stable income. In spite of the different works of the Six person, but one point is the same, that is, they have to rely on their own hard work to achieve the dream in the heart, and enjoy it. There has no distinction of their dreams, in the exchanges of six persons, not because of the merits of the nature of work and affect their friendship. The equality, independence, and mutual respect between friends should be promoted.
4.3 Self Selection in Love and Marriage
It is a very important feature of Individualism to put emphasis on individual freedom and self selection, which is in the American concept of love and marriage was particularly prominent. The American attitude toward love is open and frank. When the spouse, as long as they feel happy, they that can be together, and the factors such as family background, work, education and other objective factors is less
considered. And later in marriage, if you do not love each other, or feel unhappy, they can be separated, they will not consider the child or influence in society like barely go on.
A major part of the “Friends” is the love experiences of six friend on the bumpy road. There have been three marriages of Ross which made him to be one of the most difficult people. The first and second marriages are episodic, and emotional entanglements between Rachel have been throughout the entire series, after skelter, eventually married lovers. Between Chandler and Monica built on friendship love and marriage is the most stable in the six. Although two people before each made a lot of friends, but they eventually found the complementary character of each other is the most appropriate. Phoebe feels it is not married who, for love and love is not indifferent. But when she meets her true love Mike, although the twists and turns, eventually into the marriage hall. Only six not married Joey, although he made many girlfriends but never love him and this the imprint is engraved on my heart. Enjoy today tomorrow's personality are not unrelated. In any case, everyone according to their own wishes in love on the road made their own choice. Found in the play can be, everyone in the emphasis on self selection and is fully considered the feelings of others, respect the choices of others. For example, before Ross and Joey's former girlfriend decided to further exchanges, make sure to accept Joey on the matter.
5、Influence of American individualism
5.1 The positive influence of individualism
Firstly, encourage competition and promote economic development "should be said that the individual competition is a positive attitude towards life, can improve the efficiency of individual and the whole society as a whole, the economic and social progress. Americans believe that competition can maximize the role of individuals, it is challenge to every person, and every person should be forced to create wealth. The American liberal political thought, the economic and social laissez-faire on the concept of freedom and equality provides the basis for the ideal condition and the most fundamental is between people and group competition. Under this kind of
atmosphere, people will give full play to one‟s ability to participate in the competition. Seek success. Competition will inevitably become the most effective means towards its goal of everyone.
For individuals, the pressure of competition will make people have a sense of urgency, a sense of crisis and sense of challenge, and ultimately arouse their initiative, give full play to his subjective initiative, enthusiasm and creativity. At the same time, the competition can let a person see their wisdom and ability and strength. Free competition constitute the individual pursuit of the ideal of the internal driving force, to encourage and promote the individual potential, for individuals to achieve their goals and develop their own capacity, the indirect competition can promote the common development of the whole.
For society, competition can make the society full of vitality. Through the principle of “social competition mechanism”, society can obtain rapid development. In 1990s, there aroused an unprecedented good momentum of the economic development in the United States, because the United States government followed the principle of “competition efficiency”, reduce national mandatory behavior, the introduction of competition mechanism in the field of public services, so as to improve the efficiency of government public management," competition is a kind of invisible rules, it leads to emergence of an efficient result.
Secondly, the pursuit of success has promoted the progress of society. Americans put the pursuit of success as their spiritual integral part, become their behavior standards and their short-term goal and the long-term ideal, which is the core power of their own and drive of social development. The pursuit of success, is the people to improve the living conditions and the future with hope and confidence, never satisfied with the status quo, so that Americans may be the world's most willing to take risks and try new things in the nation. Americans believe that birth and family is not important, self value mainly depends on the individual achievement. A person should have their own goal, so the American people have a strong desire to succeed. The success of American desire in various areas to seek, continuous improvement, at the same time, the frequent promotion opportunities and a variety of successful examples
in turn stimulate the desire to succeed more, start another new pursuit. The struggle for a successful struggle mode again and again and again, the American society is full of vitality.
5.2 The negative influence of individualism
The influence of American individualism penetrated into all fields of social life, but the United States, individualism is included so much ambiguity, contains so intractable contradiction and paradox, so, even if you want to maintain it, the analysis also requires that we are critical to it. Individualism in American history has played a positive role, for social prosperity and progress, but too much emphasis on individualism, individual rights and personal freedom without restraint, also has negative influence on the development of American society.
Firstly, the pursuit of individual freedom led to "American disease". The United States is indeed a relatively free country, but due to "excessive freedom", and to society in many "social disease", such as drug abuse, crime, violence, homosexuality phenomenon in American society is common. Due to the influence of individualist values, many Americans "have funs" pursuit desperately to experience a variety of stimuli, drug abuse is one of the important ways. There are many factors that cause drug use, but individualism advocated free indulgence is one of the main reasons. Although the United States is very rich in substance, in this individualistic oriented, highly competitive countries, the fast pace of life, work pressure,, spirit of high tension, some of the people by means of drugs to just relax their anxiety mood.
Secondly,, Interpersonal Indifference. Interpersonal indifference. Personal independence go will weaken the society for his control, but also shaken the dependence of the individual to society, people may feel more lonely, but he has more free space for community life of the people, loneliness is the price of freedom for the individual to pay him. Americans see personal independence and autonomy is the highest value, respect for me, and respect for individual personality, but in such a process, the "I" is elevated to a supreme position, thus to "solipsism". Although Americans participate in various social activities, but because the individualism
mentality has led many people to have a sense of loneliness, and with the increase of age is more prominent.
6、Conclusion
As the core value and concept of American culture, individualism has deeply rooted in American life, work, thoughts and other fields. "Friends" individualist values embodied in family, career, love, marriage, etc., contribute to a better understanding of Americans culture behind the words and deeds, and a better understanding of the essence of American culture. However, we should keep a righteous attitude towards individualism, do not blindly worship. With a dynamic vision to dialectical treat American values of individualism, only by this way, can we get a more comprehensive and profound understanding of American culture and its values.
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