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Comparison of Public and Academic Discourses: Estonian Individualism and Collectivism Revisited

University of Tartu, Estonia

The article studies the meaning of individualism and collectivism from two different perspectives—from the viewpoints of the academic discipline of cross-cultural psychology and of Estonian public discourse. More specifically, the aim of this study is to explore and understand the difference between Estonians' autostereotype of their extreme individualism and the opposing opinion held by the cross-cultural research community that sees Estonia as a collectivistic country. The findings show that the definitions and conceptualizations of individualism and collectivism by cross-cultural psychologists and Estonian lay-people are indeed only partially overlapping. If Estonians speak about their individualism or collectivism, they seem to emphasize their being/acting alone versus being/working in groups, whereas for cross-cultural researchers the defining attributes of individualism are striving for affective and intellectual autonomy and egalitarian values versus conservatism. Moreover, the findings clearly suggest that the concepts of individualism and collectivism are conceptualized differently not only in Estonian public discourse and academic discourse, but also within academic discourse in cross-cultural psychology. It seems that behind the solid and broad façade of individualism-collectivism, multiple concepts co-habit with rather diverse meanings. Future research should redirect its focus on the core elements of individualism and collectivism in order to clean the concepts of the deposited layers of meanings and implications and to help them to win back their status of principal cultural dimensions.

Key Words: academic discourse in cross-cultural psychology • collectivism • Estonian public discourse • individualism

Culture & Psychology, Vol. 9, No. 1, 47-77 (2003)
DOI: 10.1177/1354067X03009001004


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