INDIVISUALISM OR COLLECTIVISM

By: Mohamed Aboobakuru, 056148

Abstract

The study is based on the results of a questioner which was filled by the students who belongs to who
faculties of The Maldives National University, Faculty of Education (FE) and Center for Foundation
Studies (CFS). Five boys and five girls were chosen from each faculty and the questioner they filled was
divided into two parts. First part was to find out whether their society is oriented towards collectivism or
individualism and the second part is to determine whether the candidate’s thinking is oriented toward
collectivism or individualism

Introduction

Intercultural communication is sharing information such as music, language, and dance with people
from other cultures and social groups, intercultural communication requires an understanding that
different cultures have different customs and standards and these differences are known as cultural
variations. The purpose of this study is to determine the cultural variability between the genders of two
faculties of the Maldives National University, in terms of their orientation towards individualism-
collectivism. So basically the study shows whether the members of each faculty and gender’s society
and individual thoughts are oriented towards individualism or collectivism.

Method

Subjects

CFS subjects were 5 male and 5 female and the subjects from FE were 5 male and 5 female as well. Their
age ranged from 16 to 25 years old

Procedure

Purpose of the study was told to the subjects and they were asked to fill out the forms after reading it
and understanding it. Subjects were told that the first part of the assignment was to determine whether
their society is oriented towards collectivism or individualism and that the second part was to determine
their thought to these cultural acts and understandings.

Data collection

In the questioner, all the questions were close ended. First part represents some things that happens in
a society which were related to individualism and collectivism and the subjects were told to rate the
actions from 1 to 7, 1 being not at all, 2 being very rarely, 3 being rarely, 4 being sometimes, 5 being
often, 6 being very often and 7 being always. Questions in the second part is very similar but not the
same. In this part the subjects were asked to rate how they feel about this acts in the society from 1 to
7, 1 being very bad, 2 being bad, 3 being rather bad, 4 being neither good or bad, 5 being rather good, 6
being good and 7 being very good. In both parts, the higher the number, the higher the degree of
collectivistic orientation.
Findings

Results

MALE VS FEMALE
male female

65%
50%

35%
30%

15%

5%
INDIVIDUALISM NEITHER COLLECTIVISM

According to the analysis of the chart, 50% of the male subjects shows individualistic orientation, 35% of
them shows collectivistic orientation and the chart shows that 15% of the male subjects shows neither
collectivist nor individualistic behavior. The chart shows that 30% of the female subjects shows
individualistic orientation, 65% shows collectivistic orientation and 5% shows neither collectivistic nor
individualistic orientation.
 BELOW 18 VS 18-20 VS ABOVE 20

60%

50%
below 18 18 to 20 above 20

40%

40%
35%

35%
20%

15%
5%
INDIVISUALISM NEITHER COLLECTIVISM

The chart shows that 40% of subjects below 18 years shows individualistic orientation, 40% of them
shows collectivistic orientation and 20% of them shows neither. According to the chart, 60% of the
subjects who were between 18 and 20 shows individualistic orientation, 35% of them shows
collectivistic orientation and only 5% of them shows neither collectivistic or individualistic orientation.
As shown in the chart, 35% of the subjects who were above 20 years shows individualistic orientation,
50% of them shows collectivistic orientation and 15% of the subjects above 20 years old shows neither
collectivistic nor individualistic behavior.
 FE VS CFS
FE CFS

60%
55%

25%
25%

20%
15%

INDIVIDUALISM NEITHER COLLECTIVISM

According to the chart, 25% of the subjects who were from FE shows individualistic orientation, 60% of
them shows collectivistic orientation, and 15% of them shows neither. The chart shows that 55% of the
students from CFS shows individualistic orientation, 25% of them shows collectivistic orientation and the
chart shows that 20% of the subjects who were from CFS shows neither collectivistic nor individualistic
orientation.
 SOCIETY VS INDIVIDUAL VIEW
society individual

90%
40%

40%
20%
5%

5%

INDIVIDUALISM NEITHER COLLECTIVISM

The chart shows that 5% of the societies are oriented towards individualism, 90 is oriented towards
collectivism, and 5% of the societies shows neither collectivistic nor individualistic behavior. According
to the chart, 40% of the subjects are oriented towards individualism, 40% of them are oriented towards
collectivism and 20% of the subjects shows neither individualistic nor collectivistic behavior.

Discussion