Communal Values and Individualism in Our Era of Globalization: A Comparative Longitudinal Study of Three Different Societies

Abstract

Ideologies shape people’s belief systems about what constitutes a good life and well-being and how to navigate between considerations of own well-being versus the well-being of others. In every culture, there is a powerful set of ideals about collectivism and individualism, and societies have to find a balance between individual independence and collective interdependence. Based on its own local historical and cultural traditions, every society has to negotiate its own balance between individual and communal values. Conceptions of what makes a good life have thus, in essential and fundamental ways, to consider both individual autonomy and personal growth and the individual’s partaking in developing, upholding, and maintaining his or her community. Conceiving globalization as an ideology or worldview, as a system of ideas and values circulating in the public realm influencing societies worldwide thereby defining and articulating local values and visions for social change, this study analyzes the influences of globalization on communal values and sense of community as reflected in language usage in public discourses (newspapers) in three different societies: a post-communist East European republic (the Czech Republic), a Nordic welfare state (Norway), and a modern West African society (Ghana).