Individualism
Note - Nicanor Rodrigues, July 2026. Reference definition for research and writing.
Definition
Individualism is the cultural and philosophical orientation that treats the individual person as the primary unit of social and moral life. In Hofstede’s classic formulation, individualist societies are those in which ties between individuals are loose: everyone is expected to look after themselves and their immediate family, and identity is grounded in the person rather than the group. Psychologically it corresponds to what Markus and Kitayama call the independent self: a self experienced as bounded and unique, and expressed through personal choices, attributes, and achievements.
Core features
- Personal goals take priority over group goals when the two conflict.
- Behaviour is guided by personal attitudes and individual judgement more than by group norms.
- Relationships are chosen and can be exited; obligations are entered voluntarily and are limited in scope.
- Self-reliance, achievement, privacy, and personal responsibility are core values.
Two senses of the word
Cultural. A value orientation measured in cross-cultural psychology (Hofstede’s individualism index, self-construal research). It describes populations statistically, never individuals: every society contains both individualist and collectivist people.
Political and philosophical. The doctrine that individual rights, liberty, and self-determination come first, as in classical liberalism, together with methodological individualism, the view that explanations of social life bottom out in individual people. The word entered common use through Tocqueville’s individualisme in Democracy in America (1840), originally as a criticism; Lukes traces the full history of the concept.
What it is not
Individualism is not a synonym for selfishness, and it is not the absence of cooperation. Highly individualist societies cooperate intensely, but through impersonal institutions, generalised trust, and voluntary association rather than through personal obligation networks.
Sources
- Hofstede, G. (2001). Culture’s Consequences (2nd ed.). Sage. Overview: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hofstede%27s_cultural_dimensions_theory
- Markus, H., & Kitayama, S. (1991). Culture and the self. Psychological Review, 98(2), 224–253. https://doi.org/10.1037/0033-295X.98.2.224
- Triandis, H. (1995). Individualism and Collectivism. Westview Press.
- Lukes, S. (1973). Individualism. Blackwell.
- Tocqueville, A. de (1840). Democracy in America, Vol. II. Public domain.
See also: What is Collectivism