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Individualism: One or many?

Abstract:

It is contended that Individualism is something more than one of the poles of the I-C dimension. Furthermore: a) its meaning cannot be reduced to that of a mere self-ingroup conflict, and b) its function cannot be reduced to establishing crosscultural comparisons since it is also present at the subcultural level. 20 groups of about 10-12 subjects from eight different Autonomous Communities (regions) of Spain participated in the first phase of the research. They discussed freely on several I-C issues proposed by an interviewer (a member of the research team) in a semi-directed interview during an hour and a half. Eventually, a list of different statements was compiled from them and two equivalent pilot scales of about 164 items each were generated (forms A and B). 997 subjects (724 female, 273 male) 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 group's discussions appeared many issues different from those implied by the I-C dimension. The answers to the scales, in spite of the high homogeneity of the sample, reflected differences due to sex, age, geographical origin, intensity of religious feeling and position along the ideological continuum, among others. Several cluster analyses uncovered different combinations of answers to the Individualism facets, suggesting that Individualism is best conceived as a «multifaceted» phenomenon. In the light of these results, implications for further research are discussed.