When I turned to page 354 of Chapter 12 (Trenholm, 2008), I giggled at the honesty illustrated in Table 12.2 outlining the “Rules to Increase Cooperation Between Collectivists and Individualists.” I imagined this chart as a billboard or as a business size card of “helpful hints” a flight attendant would hand you when entering a “collectivist zone” as an individualist and visa versa! Still, I find it to be a useful tool, especially for working in small groups at institutions similar to SJSU. As someone who was born in the West (United States/American citizen), being self-sufficient (interdependent and not DEpendednt) was important to my family’s principles. While “respect” was both an expectation and a practice, I was encouraged to challenge authority, especially government and law enforcement. My siblings and I were often told, “At the end of the day, you have to look in the mirror and face yourself, so ‘do you’ and make yourself happy first.” In opposition, collectivist cultures “believe it is right to subordinate personal goals for the good of others” (p. 353). Although I find nothing “wrong” about this value system, I wonder: what would it be like to fully immerse myself in a space (country or region) where collectivist “rules” are universal?
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