Individualism: One or Many? 1
Year: 2000
Type: article
Abstract: "It is contended that Individualism is something more than one of the poles of the I-C dimension. Furthe rm o re: a) its meaning cannot be reduced to that of a mere self-ingroup conflict, and b) its functioncannot be reduced to establishing cross cultural comparisons since it is also present at the subcultura ll evel. 20 groups of about 10-12 subjects from eight different Autonomous Communities (regions) ofSpain participated in the first phase of the research. They discussed freely on several I-C issues proposedby an interviewer (a member of the research team) in a semi-directed interview during an hourand a half. Eventually, a list of different statements was compiled from them and two equivalent pilotscales of about 164 items each were generated (forms A and B). 997 subjects (724 fe m a l e, 273male) participated in a second phase. Most of them were University students (age mean of 22,6 years) and came from 8 different spanish regions. In groups discussions appeared many issues differentfrom those implied by the I-C dimension. The answers to the scales, in spite of the high homogeneityof the sample, reflected differences dueto sex, age, geographical origin, intensity of religious feelingand position along the ideological continuum, among others. Seve ral cluster analyses uncove red different combinations of answe rs to the Individualism facets, suggesting that Individualism is best conceivedas a «multifaceted» phenomenon. In the light of these results, implications for further researchare discussed."
Language: English
Subfield: Social Psychology
Field: Psychology
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: gold
OpenAlex ID: W2126565626