An arguement for individualist society
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Individualism is the political and social philosophy that people in the
society should have the right to make their own decisions rather than an
entity such as the government. It is also the emphasis of the individual
over the entire group. An individualist society bases itself completely
over this fact. No society can completely be individualist as it would
inherently go against human nature. We have to understand that Indian
society is a mix of both individualism and collectivism. We can infer
this from Hofstede insights which give us a score of 48 and terms us a
society with both collectivist traits and individualist traits.
Our source of collectivist culture is both political and historical. We
were a completely socialist country for more than 40 years. This creates
a certain mindset in people and starts making them think that the state
is superior to the individual. The source of our individualism is from
Indic religions namely Hinduism Buddhism and Jainism. We inherit our
individualist traits from them as they value karma and individual
actions.
I will now try to give a few reasons, why I think individualism will
serve India better. Innovation is an inherent product of individualism
in society. We in India do not lack innovation but fail to emphasize it.
We have an innate desire to call businessmen who innovate and rise up in
life, corrupt. We fail to acknowledge the risk they take to create more
jobs and increase consumer satisfaction. In essence, though working for
personal benefit is individualistic, it also serves the society at
large.
Another thing that a lot of us do is blame others for our trouble.
Individualism emphasizes dealing on with your own problems. The
above-stated attitude is changing but not fast enough.we need to have an
emphasis on ourselves before others. This is not an argument against
compassion or charity. We can have that too but do remember just as we
put on our oxygen masks before helping others wear theirs, we have to
help ourselves in any situation first then others.
Rishab.V.G
Writer and Content editor
Philomath Team