This guide accompanies the following article: Anu Realo and Jüri Allik, ‘On the Relationship between Social Capital and Individualism–Collectivism’, Social and Personality Psychology Compass 3 (2009): 1–16, doi: 10.1111/j.1751-9004.2009.00226.x

Authors’ Introduction

Both social capital and individualism–collectivism (IC) have been, and still are, popular and well-researched constructs in social sciences. Many theorists have argued that individualism poses a threat to social cohesion and communal association. Other researchers believe that growth of individuality, autonomy and self-sufficiency are necessary conditions for the development of social solidarity and cooperation. Recent research suggests that countries with higher level of social capital (where people believe that most people can be trusted) are also more individualistic, emphasizing the importance of independence, personal accomplishments and freedom to choose one’s own goals. In societies where trust is limited to the nuclear family or kinship alone, people have lower levels of social capital. Social capital increases as the radius of trust widens to encompass a larger number of people and social networks, bridging the ‘gap’ between the family and state.

Authors Recommend

Portes, A. (1998). Social capital: Its origins and applications in modern sociology. Annual Review of Sociology, 24, 1–25.

This article reviews the origins and definitions of social capital in the writings of Bourdieu, Coleman and Putnam among other authors. It distinguishes four sources of social capital and examines their dynamics. Although the original theoretical development of the concept focused on the individual as the unit of analysis, the concept of social capital was later extended to a group level where it became an attribute of communities and nations. The final sections of the article describe this conceptual stretch and examine its limitations.

Putnam, R. D. (2000). Bowling Alone: The Collapse and Revival of American Community. New York, NJ: Simon and Schuster.

In this groundbreaking book, Putnam surveys the decline of ‘social capital’ in the United States of America since 1950. Putnam shows how people in U.S. have become increasingly disconnected from family, friends, neighbours and democratic structures and how this decline of social capital may result in the collapse of the society because levels of trust and civic involvement have, as many studies have demonstrated, a significant impact on human life outcomes.

Fukuyama, F. (1995). Trust: The Social Virtues and their Creation of Prosperity. New York, NJ: Free Press.

In this book, Fukuyama examines a wide range of national cultures to understand and explain the underlying principles that foster economic and social prosperity. He argues that social capital may be as important as physical capital – prosperous countries tend to be those where business relations between people can be conducted informally and flexibly on the basis of social trust or cooperative behaviour based upon shared norms.

Hofstede, G. (2001). Culture’s Consequences: Comparing Values, Behaviours, Institutions and Organizations across Nations (Vol. 2). Beverly Hills, CA: Sage.

Hofstede’s book is a must read for anyone interested in psychological, historical, or anthropological approach to cross-cultural comparisons. The book explores cultural differences in values, focusing on the five dimensions of culture, including individualism–collectivism.

Allik, J., & Realo, A. (2004). Individualism–collectivism and social capital. Journal of Cross-Cultural Psychology, 35, 29–49.

This article gives a comprehensive historical overview of the emergence of individualism and the tension between the individual and the collective. It also explores the relationship between individualism–collectivism and the concept of modernity. The authors argue that individualism in psychology is related not only to the idea of modernization but also to the concept of Westernism or Americanization. In the empirical section of this article, they reanalysed available data on the relationship between individualism–collectivism and social capital within one country (the United States) and across 42 countries. The results support Durkheim’s view that when individuals become more autonomous and seemingly liberated from social bonds, they actually become even more dependent on society.

Oyserman, D., Coon, H. M., & Kemmelmeier, M. (2002). Rethinking individualism and collectivism: Evaluation of theoretical assumptions and meta-analyses. Psychological Bulletin, 128, 3–72.

This article provides a theoretical and empirical overview of individualism and collectivism as cultural orientations. It highlights plausible consequences of individualism and collectivism and provides a guide to the study and assessment of individualism and collectivism based on the past 20 years of usage. It provides the review of the literature on implications of individualism–collectivism for basic psychological functioning such as self-concept, well-being, attribution, relationality, etc.

Lukes, S. (1971). The meanings of individualism. Journal of the History of Ideas, 32, 45–66.

Being merely a 19th-century expression, the term of ‘individualism’ has a rich semantic and cultural history, comprising ‘the most heterogeneous ideas possible’ as said by Max Weber in his book The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism in 1904. In his article, Steven Lukes discusses the various meanings of individualism in different countries and in different schools of thought.

Online Materials

1. Social Capital Gateway

http://www.socialcapitalgateway.org/

According to its founder and editor, Fabio Sabatini (University of Siena, Italy), the Social Capital Gateway is a personal, nonprofit initiative. It was developed with an aim to (1) provide useful resources for researchers, teachers, students and practitioners interested in the study of social capital and other related topics, like poverty and development as well as to (2) promote discussion and ideas exchange on these topics. The Web site provides comprehensive and up-to-date information about journal articles, books, postgraduate programs and fellowships, forthcoming conferences on social capital.

2. The World Bank Webpage on Social Capital

http://go.worldbank.org/C0QTRW4QF0

This Web site provides an overview of the theoretical aspects of social capital as well as of the measuring tools that have been developed to measure social capital. It also indexes journal articles, publications and reports, and other Web sites about social capital. The Web site has a link to Social Capital Document Library which includes hundreds of abstracts of documents on social capital which will be updated and supplemented periodically.

3. The Saguaro Seminar: Civic Engagement in America

http://www.hks.harvard.edu/saguaro/index.htm

According to the initiator of the Saguaro Seminar, Robert Putnam (John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University), the project focuses on expanding what we know about our levels of trust and community engagement and on developing strategies and efforts to increase this engagement. The mission of the seminar is both to improve social capital measurement and the availability of social capital data and to undertake analysis of building social capital in a changing environment.

4. Geert Hofstede™ Cultural Dimensions

http://www.geert-hofstede.com/

This Web site provides extensive information about Geert Hofstede cultural dimensions, including individualism–collectivism. It reviews books, articles and magazines applicable to cross-national comparisons and lists them there.

5. World Values Survey

http://www.worldvaluessurvey.org/

This Web site provides information about the World Values Survey, the world’s most comprehensive investigation of political and sociocultural change. The World Values Survey is a global network of social scientists who have surveyed the basic values and beliefs of the publics of more than 80 societies, on all six inhabited continents over the past 30 years.

Sample Syllabus (a Part)

Topics for Lecture & Discussion.

Weeks I–II: Individualism–Collectivism

I A Short History of Individualism–Collectivism, Emergence of Individualism, Individualism in the United States.

II Individualism–Collectivism in Cross-Cultural Psychology, Measurement of Individualism–Collectivism, A Critique of Individualism–Collectivism.

Reading:

Buss, A. (2000). The evolution of Western individualism. Religion, 30, 1–25.

Kagitçibasi, Ç. (1997). Individualism and collectivism. In J. W. Berry, Y. H. Poortinga, J. Pandey, P. R. Dasen, T. S. Saraswathi, M. H. Segall & Ç. Kagitçibasi (Eds.), Handbook of Cross-Cultural Psychology (Vol. 2, pp. 1–49). Boston, MA: Allyn & Bacon.

Lukes, S. (1971). The meanings of individualism. Journal of the History of Ideas,32, 45–66.

Oyserman, D., Coon, H. M., & Kemmelmeier, M. (2002). Rethinking individualism and collectivism: Evaluation of theoretical assumptions and meta-analyses. Psychological Bulletin, 128, 3–72.

Realo, A., Koido, K., Ceulemans, E., & Allik, J. (2002). Three components of individualism. European Journal of Personality, 16, 163–184.

Vandello, J. A., & Cohen, D. (1999). Patterns of individualism and collectivism across the United States. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 77, 279–292.

More advanced reading:

Bellah, R. N. (1985). Habits of the heart: Individualism and Commitment in American life. Berkeley: University of California Press.

Hofstede, G. (2001). Culture’s Consequences: Comparing Values, Behaviours, Institutions and Organizations Across Nations (2nd edn). Beverly Hills, CA: Sage.

De Tocqueville, A. (1945). Democracy in America. New York, NJ: Alfred A. Knopf Inc. (original book published in 1835/1840).

Triandis, H. C. (1995). Individualism & Collectivism. Boulder: Westview Press.

Weeks III–IV Social Capital

III Social Capital, What is It? Theories, Social Capital in the United States, Measurement of Social Capital.

IV Forms of Social Capital, Privatization of Social Capital, Changing Nature of Social Capital.

Reading:

Bourdieu, P. (1986). The forms of capital. In J. G. Richardson (Ed.), Handbook of Theory and Research for the Sociology of Education (pp. 241–258). New York: Greenwood.

Coleman, J. S. (1988). Social capital in the creation of human capital. American Journal of Sociology, 94, S95–S120.

Inglehart, R., & Baker, W. E. (2000). Modernization, cultural change, and the persistence of traditional values. American Sociological Review, 65, 19–51.

Paxton, P. (1999). Is social capital declining in the United States? A multiple indicator assessment. American Journal of Sociology, 105, 88–127.

Portes, A. (1998). Social capital: Its origins and applications in modern sociology. Annual Review of Sociology, 24, 1–25.

Putnam, R. D. (1995). Bowling alone: America’s declining social capital. Journal of Democracy, 6, 65–78.

More advanced reading:

Fukuyama, F. (1995). Trust: The Social Virtues and the Creation of Prosperity. New York: Simon & Schuster.

Putnam, R. D. (Ed.) (2002). Democracies in Flux: The Evolution of Social Capital in Contemporary Society. New York: Oxford University Press.

Rothstein, B. (2005). Social Traps and the Problem of Trust. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.

Week V Individualism–Collectivism and Social Capital

The Relationship between Individualism–Collectivism and Social Capital.

Reading:

Allik, J., & Realo, A. (2004). Individualism–collectivism and social capital. Journal of Cross-Cultural Psychology, 35, 29–49.

Kemmelmeier, M., Jambor, E. E., & Letner, J. (2006). Individualism and good works: Cultural variation in giving and volunteering across the United States. Journal of Cross-Cultural Psychology, 37, 327–344.

Realo, A., & Allik, J. (2009). On the relationship between social capital and individualism–collectivism. Social and Personality Psychology Compass, 3, 1–16.

Focus Questions

1. Individualism–collectivism concepts have been in the limelight in cross-cultural psychology since the beginning of the 1980s. What has been said in a criticism of the individualism–collectivism research movement?

2. What is social capital? How can it be measured?

3. What are some examples of social capital? Can you bring examples from your own neighbourhood?

4. What is the relationship between social capital and individualism–collectivism? How can it be explained?

DOI: 10.1111/j.1751-9004.2009.00256.x