One aspect of U.S. culture is individuality as a core pillar. Individuality is the concept of placing more importance in the individual over the group. The U.S.’s history of democratic ideals and liberty for all individuals, including the liberty of thought and action has led to a society that greatly believes that individuals can achieve anything they can dream of in life if they work hard enough, and that their success is not entirely based on the family they were born into. Individuality can be seen in a few examples. For instance, Americans have a tendency to not return to living with their parents after they first move out. On the other hand, people from other cultures, such as many Hispanic and Asian cultures, tend to live with several generations in a household for their entire lives. As another example, Americans have the freedom to move between social and economic classes during their lifetime whereas people from other cultures, such as Indian culture, are born into a class and cannot change their status.
I both like and dislike this individuality aspect of U.S. culture. On one hand, I like that as a U.S. citizen I have control over my own life and destiny. I can do anything I desire without having to heavily consider society’s judgement. My actions are my decision, and this level of freedom is rare and should be cherished. On the other hand, there are some downfalls to individuality. I believe that this aspect of U.S. culture can, at times, isolate people. Since other cultures place more importance on groups, like family, other cultures may be and feel closer with other people, as though they have stronger support systems than someone from an individualistic culture like the U.S. may have.
Someone outside of U.S. culture who is from a collectivistic culture, such as Japan, would likely see individuality as selfish. People from collectivistic cultures believe in the importance of keeping peace and balance in the group. The group may be society as a whole or even just the family unit. Thus, individuals have to consider others over themselves when making decisions about their lives. They would see the individualistic nature of not considering others as selfish and messing up the balance of the group. However, someone outside of U.S. culture also may be jealous of people in individualistic culture because these people have so much freedom to do and say what they please without having to consider how this will affect the group.
This exercise helps me prepare for my time abroad by placing me in the mindset to begin considering what my core values are as an American and how these core values may be perceived by from someone form another culture. Things that I do or think and consider as natural may be very different from what people from other cultures see as natural and I must consider this when I am abroad. It will be important during my time abroad to also attempt to understand and appreciate cultural aspects that are different from my own. While London also has an individualistic culture, there will certainly be other aspects that are different from the U.S.