Friday, June 22, 2012

Individuality vs Collectivity

The other day I was speaking to a friend of mine from India and she told me that she was initially very surprised about me. She told me, people in India have a specific perception of foreigners. People in India think that foreigners are rather individualistic than collectivistic. Meeting me, she says was a surprise for her because her thinking was proved wrong. She didn't get the impression at all that I am rather individualistic in my thinking. Because I am not like that, she says she thinks I have probably become "Indianized," which is why I act more collectivistic than individualistic. This conclusion was made in a very short amount of time since I have been here only for almost a month now. However, it has surprised me to hear that from her because in the 5 years  that I have been in the US, I have never been told that. However, thinking this way is pretty sterotypical and I am sure the more foreigners she will meet she will find that it is not as clear cut as that. Even about myself I would say I am individualistic in some sense as well as collectivistic in other areas.  

No comments:

Post a Comment