From my experience as a person born and raised in the United States, the concept of individualism stands out as a critical aspect of American culture, seeping its way into all aspects of life in this country. American individualism is rooted in such concepts as the \u201cAmerican Dream\u201d and an intense work ethic that accompanies the capitalist economic system. Americans tend not to rely so much on people other than themselves, believing that help from others tarnishes their perception of success, in which the highest value is placed upon the image of a \u201cself-made\u201d individual. Individualism often takes priority in the American ego, wherein people try desperately to stand out from the crowd through aspects of their personality, fashion, material possessions, etc., often leading to an \u201cus vs. them\u201d dynamic.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Personally, I feel that American individualism is a harmful ideology to maintain. Individualism breeds a competitiveness with fellow human beings that leads to feelings of insecurity through the consistent self-criticism. I believe that individualism is not only detrimental to people who uphold these standards, but also to one\u2019s surrounding environment. I have recently been very interested in the rise of \u201ccar culture\u201d and the implications of having an automobile-centric society where the needs of individual cars are favored over decent public transport, thereby destroying natural spaces meant for the collective in order to accommodate cars, which I think well illustrates the negative effects of individualism in some way. Though individualism may prove necessary to the development of character, a society cannot function without the collective, making individualism appear as a rather selfish worldview.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
If a complete outsider unfamiliar with American customs were to view individualism as a cultural quality, I think they might find the phenomena exhausting due to the constant stress of relying solely on oneself when others are willing and able to assist. From my observations, other cultures outside of the United States possess a profound respect towards others who contribute to their communities or provide aid within a family unit. I am reminded of the African proverb \u201cit takes a village to raise a child\u201d when searching for the antithesis of my perception of American individualism, wherein cultural differences determine a level of trust given towards other people in a community. To depend only on oneself may be interpreted as extremely disrespectful in other cultures, considering that every human being must rely on at least one other person to survive in the world.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Upon this reflection exercise, I can put into words what I believe to be a prominent aspect of American culture, which will make me more self-aware when traveling to a country I have no firsthand experience within. When going abroad to Munich, I will hold these beliefs close to me as I seek connections with individuals residing in Germany alongside me. Given that Germany is vastly different from the United States with a complex history, I think that individualism in the sense which I have previously described will not be so pervasive as it is in American society. German attitudes towards health care and other social programs seem to suggest heightened recognition of the collective, however my thoughts are merely generalization and will truly be put to the test once I arrive in Munich!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
From my experience as a person born and raised in the United States, the concept of individualism stands out as a critical aspect of American culture, seeping its way into all aspects of life in this country. American individualism is rooted in such concepts as the \u201cAmerican Dream\u201d and an intense work ethic that…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":679,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[24,1],"tags":[369],"class_list":["post-20566","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-jym","category-uncategorized","tag-rollinsabroad"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.rollins.edu\/letters\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20566","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.rollins.edu\/letters\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.rollins.edu\/letters\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.rollins.edu\/letters\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/679"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.rollins.edu\/letters\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=20566"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.rollins.edu\/letters\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20566\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":20571,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.rollins.edu\/letters\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20566\/revisions\/20571"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.rollins.edu\/letters\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=20566"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.rollins.edu\/letters\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=20566"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.rollins.edu\/letters\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=20566"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}