Insights from a person of questionable sanity

Death of Individuality, Birth of Culture

Culture is a ‘human phenomenon’ (Mclaren. 1998: 14) but it cannot be defined exactly because it is a process which changes constantly and it is not fixed (Mclaren. 1998:14). However it is possible to identify certain everyday normality that constitutes culture, for example, the clothes we wear, the food we eat and what we do in our leisure time.


And yet surely all this-the food we eat and the clothes we wear constitutes our sense of ‘individuality’, for example you think you are an individual because the clothes you wear and the food you eat is different to others.


Many sociologists believe that in actual fact people are socialised into their identity and individuality. (Jorgensen et al. 1997: 22). If the culture one inhabits constructs the individuality of a person can this then be called ‘individuality’? Is there such a things as individuality? Of course many would argue that there is such a thing as individuality, how can two people in the world be the exact same? Here the problem is distinguishing between the biology and genes of a person and their personality and characteristics.


Perhaps this can be answered in terms of conformity. We all want to be liked and accepted by our peers so we adopt parts of a culture and make it our own individual thing in order to project the image that we are like someone else. Solomon Asch’s (1958) conformity experiment confirms human beings need to be accepted. In his experiment, when people were tested individually to estimate the length of the lines almost no errors were made-the length of the lines was fairly obvious in the first place. However when tested in groups, even when the answer was obvious, individuals tended to answer incorrectly-give the same answer as those in the group, in this way a group normality emerged. His experiment shows how far people are willing to go to be accepted by the group: they are willing to state the wrong answer and minimise their individuality and opinions in order to conform to the group normality to give the impression that they are like others.


It is ironic that we want to be individuals and yet we want others to identify with us and think we are like them so that they will accept us. This perhaps why we get stereotypes: ‘observers can glean clues from conduct and appearance which allow them to apply their previous experience’ (Goffman. 1959: 335). Because we want others to identify with us we project a certain image of ourselves and for this reason others construct a certain image of us which in turn is actually very different from who we are !


Jaan Valsiner identifies that contrast between culture and individuality and argues that you can’t separate the two: ‘personal uniqueness is always related with the cultural meaningful world’ (Valsiner. 2000: 55), the personal system of created meanings becomes projected to the world through our personal arrangement of things that are important to us, for example the clothe we wear. We project our individuality to the world but that individuality in the first place is not so unique and ‘individual’. It is very circular in that the culture you are part of influences in the formation of your individuality and yet simultaneously you project that individuality back to the world as your own unique thing.


I think our sense of individuality is vital for our own psychological well being: I think I am an individual, therefore I am. According to Stuart Hall if we think we have a unified identity and sense of individuality is ‘it is only because we construct a comforting story of ‘narrative of the self’ about ourselves…the fully unified, completed, secure and coherent identity is a fantasy. (Jorgensen. 1997: 31). This suggests that our sense of individuality is in fact ‘fiction’ – a comforting ‘narrative of self’. Notion of individuality could be opium of the masses, it is important for people to think they are different, that they are an individual. I think ideas about individuality is comforting because it assures us that we are ‘special’, it is a driving force in our everyday. It could even reinforce belief in a greater being-as we are individuals and our destinies are different to others but nevertheless equally important than surely someone greater has constructed us all?


Culture and individuality are often seen as opposites and I am arguing that they are not opposites. In fact as mentioned before often they work in conjunction with each other: we present ourselves as individuals and yet that individuality is influenced and depends on many factors, one being the culture inhabited by the individual. Culture and individuality are indeed different but nevertheless equal; one needs not die for the other to live. In conclusion it is impossible to be different but simultaneously-impossible to be alike!

opti.