1. Malaysia & the Collectivist
Culture
Malaysian Studies
Name: ArfaAdlinaBintiAyob
ID: 7025
Intake: July 2012
Date of Submission: 4 September 2012
2. - 1 -
ABSTRACT
This paper first introduced the term culture, collectivism and individualism. Malaysia being a
collectivist country based on the Geert-Hofstede theory is then discussed and the extent to
which this is true. Examples of the contexts in which Malaysia depicts a collectivist country
are given, namely parenting style, self-esteem, organisational values, and communication
practices. Collectivism is later evaluated in terms of its pros and cons.
3. - 2 -
INTRODUCTION
In the 20th century, "culture" emerged as a concept central to anthropology, encompassing all
human phenomena that are not purely results of human genetics. Specifically, the term
"culture" in American anthropology had two meanings: (1) the evolved human capacity to
classify and represent experiences with symbols, and to act imaginatively and creatively; and
(2) the distinct ways that people living in different parts of the world classified and
represented their experiences, and acted creatively.1
Culture is a powerful human tool for survival, but it is a fragile phenomenon. It is constantly
changing and easily lost because it exists only in our minds. Our written languages,
governments, buildings, and other man-made things are merely the products of culture. They
are not culture in themselves. For this reason, archaeologists cannot dig up culture directly in
their excavations. The broken pots and other artifacts of ancient people that they uncover are
only material remains that reflect cultural patterns--they are things that were made and used
through cultural knowledge and skills.2
People in different cultures have strikingly different construals of the self, of others, and of
the interdependence of the two. These construals can influence, and in many cases determine,
the very nature of individual experience, including cognition, emotion, and motivation. Many
Asian cultures have distinct conceptions of individuality that insist on the fundamental
relatedness of individuals to each other. The emphasis is on attending to others, fitting in, and
harmonious interdependence with them. American culture neither assumes nor values such an
overt connectednessamong individuals. In contrast, individuals seek to maintain their
independence from others byattending to the self and by discovering and expressing their
unique inner attributes. As proposedherein, these construals are even more powerful than
1
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Culture
2
http://anthro.palomar.edu/culture/culture_1.htm
4. - 3 -
previously imagined. Theories of the self from both psychology and anthropology are
integrated to define in detail the difference between a construal of the self as independent and
a construal of the self as interdependent. Each of these divergent construals should have a set
of specific consequences for cognition, emotion, and motivation; these consequences are
proposed and relevant empirical literature is reviewed. Focusing on differences in self-
construals enables apparently inconsistent empirical findings to be reconciled, and raises
questions about what have been thought to be culture-free aspects of cognition, emotion, and
motivation.3
Malaysia reflects a multi-racial and multi-religious country with a population of 29.18
million. It includes three major ethnic groups namely Malay, Chinese, Indian and the
indigenous tribal cultures. The proportion of Malays, Chinese and Indian in Malaysia are
50.4%, 23.7%, and 7.1% respectively. The oldest inhabitants, the tribal peoples, constitute
about 5% of the total population and mainly live in East Malaysia/Borneo (Krishnan, 2004).
Malaysia is also a multi- religious nation and in accord with the Department of Statistic
Malaysia, (2001), Islam is the most extensively professed religion in Malaysia (60.4%)
followed by other religions such as Buddhism (19.2%), Christianity (9.1%), Hinduism (6.3%)
and Confucianism/ Taoism/other traditional Chinese religion (2.6%). 4
It could be seen that in
Malaysia religion is highly correlated with ethnicity.
Although Malaysia is a multi-racial country, a large segment of the cultural dimensions of the
different races are similar. However, there are difference in terms of degree and priorities of
3
Culture and the Self: Implications for Cognition, Emotion, and
Motivationhttp://www.iacmr.org/v2/Conferences/WS2011/Submission_XM/Participant/Readings/Lecture8A_
JiaLin/Markus%20et%20al%20(1991)%20Culture%20and%20Self%20-
%20Implications%20for%20Cognition%20Emotion%20and%20Motivation-8a.pdf
4
http://www.indexmundi.com/malaysia/demographics_profile.html
5. - 4 -
values. For instance, the Malays ranked honesty as first in their list of values, the Chinese
place courtesy as number one,and the Indians family5
.
Individualism/collectivism is thought to have widespread influence onhow the relationship
between the self and others is conceptualized. Collectivists consider themselves as similar to
members of their ingroup(Iyengar, Lepper, & Ross, 1999), and make a strong boundary
between ingroup and outgroup. Individualists see themselves as more differentiated and
separate from other people, including family and friends. Individualists frequently think of
self-reliance as being able to pursue their own goals, while for collectivists, self-reliance
means not being a burden on one’s ingroup (Triandis, 2001).6
Collectivism, more precisely is a term used to describe any moral, political, or social outlook,
that stresses human interdependence and the importance of a collective, rather than the
importance of separate individuals. Collectivists focus on community and society, and seek to
give priority to group goals over individual goals. It supports the view that the whole is
greater than the sum of its parts/pieces. Society as a whole can be seen as having more
meaning or value than the separate individuals that make up that society.
Collectivism can be divided into horizontal collectivism and vertical collectivism. Horizontal
collectivism stresses collective decision-making among relatively-equal individuals, and is
thus usually based on decentralization. Vertical collectivism is based on hierarchical
structures of power and on moral and cultural conformity, and is therefore based on
centralization. A cooperative enterprise would be an example of horizontal collectivism,
whereas monarchy would be an example of vertical collectivism.
5
Fontaine R, Richardson S, and Yeap P The tropical Fish Problem Revisited : A Malaysian Perspective Journal of
Cross-Cultural Management 60-70
6
When Personality and Culture Clash: The Psychological Distress of Allocentrics in an Individualist Culture and
Idiocentrics in a Collectivist Culture
6. - 5 -
In his book Culture's Consequences, Geert Hofstede proposed four dimensions on which the
differences among national cultures can be understood: Power Distance (PDI), Individualism
(IDV), Masculinity (MAS), Uncertainty Avoidance (UAI). If we explore the Malaysian
culture through the lens of the 4-D Model, we can get a good overview of the deep drivers of
Malaysian culture relative to other world cultures.
The fundamental issue addressed by dimension of individualism is the degree of
interdependence a society maintains among its members Malaysia, with a score of 26 is a
collectivistic society. This is manifest in a close long-term commitment to the ―member‖
group, be that a family, extended family or extended relationships. Loyalty in a collectivist
culture is paramount and overrides most other societal rules and regulations. Such a society
fosters strong relationships, where everyone takes responsibility for fellow members of their
group. In collectivistic societies, offence leads to shame and loss of face. Employer/employee
relationships are perceived in moral terms (like a family link), hiring and promotion take
account of the employee’s in-group. Management is the management of groups.7
A research was done, comparing participants of British nationality and of Malaysian
nationality, all full-time students at the University of Wales, Cardiff. The results suggest that
Malaysian students are more collectivist than their British counterparts, specifically with
respect to the tendency to defer to the guidance or direction of relatives as well as in regard to
feelings of connectedness with parents. However, on the dimension of confiding in others,
Malaysians might actually be less collectivist.The inconsistency also suggests that whereas
Malaysianshave been found to express clear collectivist leanings in a range ofcontexts
7
7. - 6 -
(Bochner, 1994; Burns & Brady, 1992; Furnham&Muhiudeen, 1984;
Shumacher&Barraclough, 1989), they might well appear as individualist in select others.8
8
http://www.psych.utoronto.ca/users/tafarodi/Papers/JCCP99.pdf
8. - 7 -
PARENTING STYLE
As Malaysia represents a collectivist culture (Burns & Brady, 1992; Bochner, 1994), values
such as cooperation, helpfulness, obedience, dependence and interpersonal relationships are
promoted in child socialization (Kling, 1995). Family socialization begins as a process
through which children practice and learn rituals, traditions, religion, and activities in their
daily life (Krishnan, 2004). This practice is consistent with Baumrind (1980) who indicated
that socialization is the process that prepares children to obtain habits and values that help
them to adapt to their culture. In addition, these values are achieved through insight, training,
and imitation. 9
In Malay culture, parents have very important roles in directing the children toward the right
behavior and attitude. Parents are also responsible for transmitting the teachings of religion
and culture to their children. Malay parents are regarded as clear authority figures and are
obeyed without question. They pay attention to the spiritual growth in the development of the
children. The exposure of worldwide culture by the media which introduces Western
behavior to the young, have challenged Malay traditional parents. For these parents who are
mostly trained by traditional norms, Western behaviors are unacceptable practice. Although a
majority of Malay parents tend to uphold this tradition, there are however, some who may not
totally reject the Western behaviour pattern (Kling, 1995). Nonetheless, Malays continue to
emphasize values such as unity, sharing, and caring for others.10
Among Chinese families, interactions between parent and child differ from one age period to
another. Parents tend to be more lenient toward infants and young children because they are
considered as tung-shih or too young to understand things. In contrast, parents treat older
children in a harsh and strict manner and also expect them to control their emotions and
9
Parenting Style in a Collectivist Culture of Malaysia, European Journal of Social Sciences – Volume 10, Number
1 (2009)
10
Ibid
9. - 8 -
impulses. Beginning around middle childhood and early adolescence children encounter
some difficulties and conflicts with their parent’s increasing expectations towards them.
Amazingly, the term ―storm and stress‖ which is notable in the period of adolescence in
Western societies, has not been observed in Chinese adolescence (Ho, 1981). Carlson et al.
(2004) showed an agreement among Chinese-Malaysians that Chinese medium school
students are more disciplined, obtained higher academic scores and value their Chinese
cultural beliefs. For the Chinese, dependency has been sustained when reaching the age of
tung-shih. Parents have to approve the major decisions of their children such as career and
marriage. Shek (1998) found that there are some differences in parenting of the children
according to their gender. Parents seem to have an authoritarian relationship with their sons;
fathers also have firm rules as well as demand teaching for their sons than daughters.11
The structure of the Indian families has been described as patriarchal, patrilineal, and
patrilocal (Sheth, 1995). Indian parents tend to stress on respect, obedience and high
academic achievement in their children. Furthermore, they encourage their children to control
themselves, be patient and not yield to passion (Sala, 2002). Child’s independence is
considered as a threat to the parents. In Indian families, parents have different behaviors
towards their sons and daughters. Parents protect their female children more than males.
Additionally, children, particularly girls, are inhibited from showing assertive behaviour and
autonomy.12
Malaysian parents are from the collectivist group and accept the collectivist values.
Consequently, most of them tend to use authoritarian parenting as normative for rearing their
children and to promote optimal development. In this collectivist group, authoritarian
parenting does not necessarily reflect a negative style of parenting. In contrast, authoritarian
11
Parenting Style in a Collectivist Culture of Malaysia, European Journal of Social Sciences – Volume 10,
Number 1 (2009)
12
Ibid
10. - 9 -
parenting in individualistic society represents a negative style of parenting since it is
inconsistent with its culture’s norms. Thus, the meaning of the parenting styles is more likely
to be based on the norm in one’s own culture.13
13
Parenting Style in a Collectivist Culture of Malaysia, European Journal of Social Sciences – Volume 10,
Number 1 (2009)
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SELF-ESTEEM
Speculative explanations of substantively lower self-esteem in collectivists have pointed to
factors such as cultural tightness, less willingness to disregard failure and shortcomings,
attributional style, lack of choice in behavioral investment, greater tendency for guilt and
shame, and pessimism (Bond & Cheung, 1983; Chiu, 1993; Kitayama, Markus, &
Lieberman, 1995; Triandis,1995). In considering this issue, it is important to avoid the fallacy
of assuming that lower self-esteem, at either the cultural or individual level, is similarly
reflective of maladjustment across cultures. Cultural differences in self-understanding are the
result of extended social evolution. Therefore, their interpretation must take into account
culture-specific adaptive significance. Even so, it appears somewhat odd that collectivist
cultures, with their common emphasis on social integration and support—factors known to
promote self-esteem in Western cultures (Bettencourt & Dorr, 1997; Coopersmith, 1967;
Rosenberg, 1979)—should be uniformly associated with lower self-esteem. To make sense of
this, Tafarodi and Swann (1996) offered an alternative account, suggesting that collectivism
and individualism entail inverse costs and benefits for self-esteem. Accordingly, they
characterized the influence of I-C on self-valuation as a ―cultural trade-off‖ whereby the
same cultural elements that promote the development of one dimension of self-esteem inhibit
the development of another. If so, then collectivism is not uniformly related to lower self-
esteem as has been assumed.
12. - 11 -
Collectivism and individualism entail inverse costs and benefits to self-esteem. Self-
competence insofar as it is reality bound, implies actual competence, a socially rewarded
quality. Hence, those high in social-competence tend to enjoy greater social acceptance and
approval. Although interpersonal feedback is primarily a determinant of self-liking, it also
may indirectly affect self-competence. This is because an accepting social milieu provides
opportunities for and otherwise supports the emergence of actual personal competence. A
loving parent, for example, often feeds both aspects of the child’s self-esteem. High
collectivism or individualism, therefore, should not be viewed as uniformly inhibitory for the
development of either dimension of self-esteem because pathways of indirect influence
moderate any loss attributable to cultural challenge.
The interdependent self, in contrast derives its identity essentially from relations with others.
The Self is not a separate identity but is embedded in a larger social group and can be
understood only in relation to that larger group. From the point of view of the interdependent
13. - 12 -
self, individual behaviour is derived from one’s role in different social contexts and from the
perception of others’ reaction to one’s behaviour as well as from the perceived effect of one’s
own actions on others.The independent self, in contrast derives its identity only from the
inner attributes of the individual. These attributes are considered to reflect the essence of the
individual, to be stable across time and context and the combination of these attributes is seen
as unique to the individual. These individual inner attributes are significant for defining,
regulating and thus predicting the behaviour of an individual.
Different concepts of the self lead to differences in the degree of self-consistency. The
independent self puts great emphasis on self-consistency and considers the latter important
for self-esteem, even if it comes at the cost of rigidity. Indeed, absence of self-consistency
would signal a flawed self which would be hurting self-esteem. In contrast, the
interdependent self emphasizes adjustment to contexts and flexibility at the cost of self-
consistency. It is this adaptability that is crucial for self-esteem, in line with the concept of
interdependent self.
14. - 13 -
ORGANISATIONAL VALUES
A research was done on Individualism-Collectivism and Organisational Value Types. Data
was collected by questionnaire from middle managers in a total of 18 organisations in
Selangor, Malaysia.The results showed that Malaysian managers have significantly high
levels of horizontal and vertical collectivism. Vertical collectivism has significant positive
relationships with collegial, meritocratic, and leadership organisational values.Horizontal
collectivism as a cultural pattern in which the individual sees the self as an aspect of an in-
group. That is, the self is merged with the members of the in-group, all of whom are
extremely similar to each other. Equality is the essence of this pattern. Vertical collectivism,
on the other hand, is a cultural pattern in which the individual sees the self as an aspect of an
in-group, but the members of the in-group are different from each other, some having more
status than others. Inequality is accepted in this pattern, and people do not see each other as
the same. Serving and sacrificing for the in-group is an important aspect of this pattern. The
results of this study support the contention that Malaysian society is a collectivistic society.14
There is no significant difference between Malaysian male and female managers in terms of
individualism-collectivism dimensions.Raja Rohana (1991) noted that the hardships of World
War II had led to a willingness to allow women in Malaysia to take external jobs. Prior to
that, women in Malaysia generally worked on the cultivation of crops and the tending of
domestic animals, except for a small number of women who worked in the market place and
in small businesses (Halinah, 1975). Malaysia‟ s Independence from the British rule in 1957
had gradually but profoundly affected women‟ s lives throughout Malaysia. The New
Economic Policy, implemented 13 years after Independence, resulted in more schools and
more jobs. There were scholarships for women to pursue education in local and foreign
14
Individualism-Collectivism And Organisational Value Types:A Case Of Malaysian Managers, International
Business & Economics Research Journal – April 2009
15. - 14 -
universities. Today, women in Malaysia work in offices and have professional careers.
Education has given Malaysian women freedom and knowledge and skills necessary to have
a career outside the home. Malaysian women‟ s participation in the labour force may lead
inevitably to lower commitment to marriage and the home environment, which
―individualises‖ women. This might explain the lack of difference between the Malaysian
males and females in relations to individualism-collectivism.15
Malaysian male managers appeared to perceive their organisation to have a higher level of
leadership organisational value type than their female counterparts. The leadership value
type, while unequal in its distribution of power, rewards and resources seeks to build
integration through the creation of a system of leadership and teamwork throughout the
organisation by having a loyal band of leaders below the apex, who are delegated some
power (Kabanoff, 1993). The male Malaysian managers‟ perception that their organisations
have the leadership organisational value type could be because superiors in their
organisations prefer to delegate powers to the male rather than to the female managers,
believing that male managers are more qualified, physically and mentally, to do the job. This
undermining of the female managers ability and capability to do their jobs is still prevalent in
organisations in Malaysia. Since the leader-focused value type places a heavy emphasis on
performance evaluation and reward systems, the favoured male managers would have a more
favourable performance evaluation results than their female counterparts and would receive
higher rewards. The occurrence of this type of situation may have influenced the male
managers in Malaysia to perceive their organisations to have a higher level of leadership
organisational value type than their female colleagues.16
15
Individualism-Collectivism And Organisational Value Types: A Case Of Malaysian Managers, International
Business & Economics Research Journal – April 2009
16
Ibid
16. - 15 -
Being educated locally in one’s country means being constantly exposed to and exhibiting the
local culture, be it individualism or collectivism, in a person’s daily life. Those managers
who were educated in Asian countries perceived their organisation to have more collegial,
leadership, and meritocratic organisational value types than those who were educated in
western countries. One possible explanation for this could be the Malaysians strong affinity
for group affiliation (Abdullah & Singh, 1992). Malaysians derive their identity from being
part of a collectivity. Malaysians are motivated by their affiliations to groups, families,
friends, hometown and nation. They respect efforts to improve productivity if they can see
benefits accruing not only to the organisation but also to their family, community and nation.
Most Malaysians are interested with building and maintaining good relationships with those
they work with. They are often contented at work if they have the opportunity to show and
receive appropriate recognition and respect from their superiors, peers and subordinates.
Three of the four types of organisational values (collegial, meritocratic and leadership) have
affiliation as a value that is strongly espoused by the organisation. Since, Malaysians have a
strong affinity for group affiliation, this could perhaps explain why Malaysian managers,
educated locally and in other Asian countries, perceived their organisations to have higher
levels of collegial, meritocratic and leadership organisational value types.17
Malaysian managers who have Westerners as their top management officers appear to have a
higher level of horizontal individualism than those who have Asians as their top management
officers. Westerners are often cited in the literature as having individualistic characteristics
(see Hofstede, 1980, Triandis, 1995; Schwartz, 1994). The „secular spirituality‟ of the west
17
Individualism-Collectivism And Organisational Value Types: A Case Of Malaysian Managers, International
Business & Economics Research Journal – April 2009
17. - 16 -
resulted in self-responsible individuals acting, not in terms of laws from the outside, but in
terms of a developing realisation of self-worth (Triandis, 1995).18
Furthermore, most of the people of the West are characterised by individualism in everyday
life, and these individualistic elements may have been introduced into the organisational
culture which, in turn, may influence the characteristics of the employees to a certain extent.
Collectivists tend to change themselves to fit into situations (Diaz-Guerrero, 1979, 1991;
Diaz-Guerrero and Diaz-Loving, 1990). Malaysian managers learn to change themselves to
fit into the environment created by their Western top management officers and, therefore,
embrace some of the individualist characteristics. Whether such an influence affects only the
work situations, or extends to social/family situations, will require further study.19
18
Individualism-Collectivism And Organisational Value Types: A Case Of Malaysian Managers, International
Business & Economics Research Journal – April 2009
19
Ibid
18. - 17 -
COMMUNICATION PRACTICES
As an extension to the need to maintain harmonious relations, Malaysians rely on non-verbal
communication (i.e. facial expressions, tone of voice, body language, etc). Such a
communication style tends to be subtle and indirect. In making a request, it would appear
outright to make it direct. Malays, particularly talk around what they intend to convey in the
hope that the message is understood. What appears to be important is to maintain the
relationship. Indirectness can also be observed in a social setting, like a marriage. In
traditional Malay custom, the proposal is conveyed in poetic verses and rhymes to express
their intention to have the girl’s hand in marriage for their son.
Malays may hint at a point rather than making a direct statement, since that might cause the
other person to lose face. Rather than say "no", they might say, "I will try", or "I’ll see what I
can do". This allows the person making the request and the person turning it down to save
face and maintains harmony in their relationship. If there is a strong need to correct a mistake
immediately, it would be done in a subtle way by adding, not criticising.
Silence is an important element of Malaysian communication. Pausing before responding to a
question indicates that they have given the question appropriate thought and considered their
response carefully. Silence is also a practice to show respect for the seniority, knowledge and
experience.
In negotiation, the Malays’ compromising and obliging conflict handling styles are probably
manifestations of their collective nature who prioritise group over personal interest. In
compromising and obliging styles, negotiators are more concerned with maintaining
relationship and safeguarding their partners feeling, hence in seemingly considered as ―weak
style‖ in goal-orientated negotiation. To the Malays, even though achieving their negotiation
19. - 18 -
goal is important, their values in preserving harmony and respect for elders take precedence
in the negotiation process.
The art of communal dining is a great example of a collectivism culture such as Malaysia.
Eating in Malaysia is often marked as a communal affair–be it theMalay’s Kenduri, Chinese
New Year’s Eve reunion dinner, or Indian celebrations. During the feast friends and families
come together under the same roof–eating, socializing, and mingling. Never mind the
different ethnic origins or walks of life, when it comes to communal dining events, there is no
barrier as we speak the same language of food.
20. - 19 -
EVALUATION
To the point of living in collectivist society, it is good to know your own neighbour and
closer to your own colleagues and there is a strong sense of brotherhood. Yet, there are
negative elements that are inevitably still rooted like gossiping and backbiting that should not
be a common theme of an issue in everyday life. The society lacks environment where people
focus on improving their own lives and not worried about the judgement of society. The
senses of complex inferiority and the feeling of superiority are also among the causes that
became a stumbling block in realizing the first class mind. To the extent that collectivism is
important to maintain good relations between friends and fellows, but this unhealthy element
will be indirectly obliterated this process.
A collectivist society has more brain power and creative juices contributing to a task or
discussion. When a group is working as a whole they have many different perspectives and
experiences that they bring to each meeting. Each person is an individual which brings things
to the collective whole.
A flaw of a collectivist society is that people might not speak out because they're afraid of
other individuals reprimanding them. This is rather obvious in the Malaysian society, as
people tend not to speak out their minds, particularly in public talks. Malaysia students
arguably are passive learners due to the fact that speaking out might lead to shame and
negative feedback from others. Thus, people might not have their voices heard.
Collectivism allows people to benefit from all different points of views. Willingness to
compromise and pay attention to others opinion perhaps leads to a more rational decision
made in a more democratic manner. Individualism, however allows people to have more of
an independent state of mind. They can make decisions more easily than in a group. As for
21. - 20 -
collectivists, maintaining harmonious relations can reduce an individual’s independence of
viewpoint and excessively complicate decision-making.
The incidence of criminal and violent behaviour is lower in cultures with collectivist
traditions (Hwu, Yeh, Chang, &Yeh, 1989). However, the picture is mixed regarding major
psychiatric disorders (Tanaka-Matsumi&Draguns, 1997). Collectivist and traditional cultures
may create conditions which foster depression and anxiety. Collectivist socialization
practices increase dependency and decrease autonomy. Persons are encouraged to
subordinate personal goals to group agendas.20
Internalizing problems may arise when children are sensitive to parents’ high level of control.
Externalizing problems can be viewed as problems of under-control, as children are
insufficiently sensitive to social expectations. Lower reports of subjective wellbeing in some
collectivist cultures may reflect dissatisfaction with the burden of doing one’s duty and the
obstacles to achieving self-actualization. The negative consequence of collectivism is thus
that being controlled by shame and guilt leads to anxiety about whether one can meet social
obligations, and to depression, because shame and guilt interfere with pursuing one’s own
goals.21
In a collectivist culture, having a personality which is discrepant from societal values is a
stressor. Children who are competitive, self-reliant and aloof from others may find their
personalities tolerated or even rewarded in an individualist society, thus fostering healthy
development of an adultpersona. In a collectivist society, the competitive, self-reliant, aloof
childmay fail to develop culturally appropriate relations with others, leading torejection by
20
When Personality and Culture Clash: ThePsychological Distress of Allocentrics in an Individualist Culture and
Idiocentrics in a Collectivist Culture
21
Ibid
22. - 21 -
peers and harsh treatment by adults. Peer rejection is well known as a risk factor for the
development of psychiatric problems.
Personal sacrifice brings a sense of satisfaction for individuals who live in collectivist
cultures (Triandis et al., 1988). Allocentric persons in collectivist cultures feel positive about
accepting ingroup norms. In contrast, idiocentric persons in collectivist cultures feel
ambivalent and even bitter about acceptance of ingroup norms. They wonder if this or that
norm is necessary, or if they should comply with it. Consequently, where allocentricpersons
in collectivist cultures may experience consistency among the behavioral, affective, and
cognitive elements of their social behavior, idiocentricsmay experience discrepancies. They
may comply with societal norms, while questioning their validity. This feeling of discrepancy
may be a stressor which detracts from psychological health.
There is some evidence that individualist vs. collectivist values influence life satisfaction by
influencing personality. Collectivist vs. individualist dispositions influenced the expression of
basic personality dispositions, and these influenced subjective wellbeing. Having
individualistic values correlated positively with openness and extraversion, and negatively
with neuroticism. These personality traits predicted self-esteem and satisfaction with friends,
which then influenced life satisfaction. In contrast, persons with collectivist dispositions had
high life satisfaction if they had family satisfaction.
Collectivism makes collective action easier because individuals internalize group interests to
a greater degree. However, it also encourages conformity and discourages individuals from
standing out. Because individualist culture gives social status rewards to people who stand
out, it may give a special, culturally motivated, incentive for innovation that is separate from
the standard monetary incentive. On the other hand, individualism can make collective action
more difficult because individuals pursue their own interest without internalizing collective
23. - 22 -
interests. This framework implies that individualism should encourage innovation more, but
collectivism should have an advantage in coordinating production processes and in various
forms of collective action.
24. - 23 -
CONCLUSION
Based on the Geert-Hofstedecultural dimensions, Malaysia scores 26, is considered as a
highly collectivistic society. However, there are limitations to this.The difference in terms of
priorities of values between different races in Malaysia perhaps requires them to be
deliberated separately. Being less collectivist in thedimension of confiding in others shows
that there are aspects that are pointing towards the individualist culture.
Looking at the current Malaysian society, the culture has changed particularly at urban areas.
Some individualistic elements are being incorporated into the culture, perhaps due to
globalisation and western education. This trend is very likely to continue growing in the
future. The argument as to whether this pattern leads to a more developed society or the
traditional collectivist culture should be preserved remains questionable.
Adaptation to the changesthat are happening globally is very important to survive in this
competitive world. Perhaps these changes might need to include some individualistic values
in order to develop a society with a balance of self-reliance and community coordination.
However I think we should be proud of the collectivist society that has lasted for generations.
Emphasis on harmony and interdependence should be preserved.
