Are Japanese more individualist or collectivist ?

[Maciamo]

As I was reading a book on cultural differences inside Europe, I found the analysis of the famous Dutch cultural psychologist Geert Hofstede, who used to work for IBM and classified cultural differences under 5 categories :

- power distance
- individualism vs collectivism
- masculinilty vs femininity
- uncertainty avoidance
- long-term vs short-term orientation

Here is what he says about the second one, which I'd like to discuss here :

Individualism on the one side versus its opposite, collectivism, that is the degree to which individuals are inte-grated into groups. On the individualist side we find societies in which the ties between individuals are loose: everyone is expected to look after him/herself and his/her immediate family. On the collectivist side, we find societies in which people from birth onwards are integrated into strong, cohesive in-groups, often extended families (with uncles, aunts and grandparents) which continue protecting them in exchange for unquestioning loyalty. The word 'collectivism' in this sense has no political meaning: it refers to the group, not to the state. Again, the issue addressed by this dimension is an extremely fundamental one, regarding all societies in the world.

You can find the results for 56 countries here

Here is the graph for Japan :



Japan scored 46 for individualism (0 is the most collectivist and 100 the most individualist). The most individualistic countries in the world were all English-speaking ones + the Netherlands (and unsurprisingly, Dutch is the most similar language to English, very similar to what linguist call Middle English, i.e. 12 to 15th century English). The USA scored 91, Australia 90, the UK 89, then Canada and the Netherlands 80 and New-Zealand 79. The only other countries with a score above 70 were Italy (76), Belgium (75), Denmark (74), Sweden (71) and France (71).
Japan is by far the most individualistic country in Asia, as most score between 15 and 20 !

However, Japan (46) is more individualistic than Southern European countries like Portugal (27), Greece (35), and very close to Spain (51). I believe that Italy's score (76) reflects much more the Northern Italian mentality than the much more collectivist Sourthern one.

----------------------------


After this short introduction, let us discuss Japan's individualism.

If you ask them, Japanese people will usually tell you that their society is a very collectivist one. They are very group-minded, sociable, care enormously about what others think about them, and often do things only because other people do it too ("if everyone jumps in the river, they let's do it too !"). In companies, they tend to seek everyone's opinion before taking a decision (so as to preserve the harmony). Traditionally, families accommodate 3, 4 or even 5 generations under the same roof. Nowadays, it's still common for grand-parents, parents and children to live in the same house.

Seen like this, Japanese are colectivist. However, I've found them to be very individualistic in their private life.

- Lot's of Japanese prefer to live by themselves rather than share a flat/apartent with a friend or even with their boyfriend/girlfriend, at least before marriage. After, some couples sleep in different rooms once they have children ! (I'd say, a third of them). Even in England, Europe's most individualistic nation, it is common for students or young people to rent a house and share it between 4 or 5 friends. The reason to that is that there are few small flats/apartmets even in London (usually detached or semi-detached houses), but also because it's more fun to stay with friends. Japanese however, even when studying abroad, almost always prefer to have their own place.

- Nowadays, lots of Japanese don't keep regular contact with their extended families (cousins, uncles, aunts, let alone second cousins). I've asked lots of people about that and 2/3 very rarely or never meet their cousins, some keep contact with a few cousins and I am yet to meet someone who regularily meets most of them. That contrast a lot with Latin/Catholic countries (including French-speaking ones) where family gatherings are usually numerous (for Christmas, New Year, Easter, at marriages, communions, baptisms, birthdays, etc.). A typical (a bit extreme) example can be seen in the movie "My big fat Greek wedding" (though Greek are neither Latin, nor Catholic, so it's maybe more a matter of climate, but Catholic Belgians act almost as such). Japanese rarely have big family gathering and rarely invite people at home.

- Lot's of Japanese do most of their activities and hobbies by themselves (or with just 1 friend). Many travel alone or go to study a year abroad by themsleves, which is quite an individualistic behaviour in itself.


Altogether, I'd say that Japanese are more collectivist at work or when they must be in group, but any other time, when they can do things by themselves (or with 1 person, like their lover or best friend), they do. That explains the mitigated score of 46. Professor Hofstede's survey, however, dates back to the 1960's, 70's and early 80's. A nation's culture doesn't normally changes in just a few decades, but in Japan it is obvious that society has gone a long way since then, and today's score for individualsim would certainly be a bit higher.