One Family: It is kind of like love your neighbor but here it’s called it collectivism.

Our culture is what we make it and our culture is going global. We are spreading American culture throughout the world with our companies and our media. Our business norms, our food, our language, our music, our films and even our porn—are all making their way around the world. One of my Malagasy students lent me The Dukes of Hazard with Jessica Simpson. In Madagascar, I am surrounded by 1980’s soft rock and also more contemporary music (Jason Mraz, Shakira). Those are two very small examples.  And within all of these things our culture is reaching the world.

We say that the United States is an individualistic society. We speak of ourselves as independent autonomous human beings constantly. Indeed, cultural researchers have found the United States to be the most individualistic society in the world.

The question I ask myself is this: If US culture doesn’t even work for us (in the US) why would it work for everyone else? In the United States you don’t have to look hard to find someone who is isolated and in need of help.

We don’t speak of culture in terms of desire—we assume that culture is a fixed state: I have my culture and you have your culture. But it doesn’t work that way. The spread of Christianity and Islam totally transformed many ancient belief systems. In Madagascar, for example, animism and ancestor worship are being replaced by both Protestantism and Catholicism. Culture has always been changing. Culture is not fixed and people make decisions every day that determine their culture. In Madagascar, for example, every time a Malagasy person operates by International Business Standards—they are making the choice to adopt that culture. What did you do this morning? What were your priorities? What did you stop yourself from doing? We are all creating culture all the time. Think of it like nurture and nature. We do as our ancestors (nurture) and we also do as we must or can (nature).

So I ask the question: do we really want to embrace the level of individualism that we presently have in the United States? Do we really prefer a model where each person looks out for only himself or herself? Or would we rather begin respecting our elders? Would we like to go back to the days of being friends with our second and third cousins? Would we rather demand two months off a year from each and every job? Would we rather work for companies who understand that relationships are primary? There was a time in the United States when we were more collectivist than we are now. It is our choice what we embrace.

If we did become more collectivistic it needn’t be identical to the collectivism of other societies. It can be our special blend which leaves plenty of room for sayings like Follow Your Bliss and Find Your Passion—and indeed it will have a heavy dose of our favored political system capitalism. But just as we recognize that capitalism has its bounds and needs regulation—we can also recognize that unbridled individualism is not the be all and end all of human existence.

It might seem like an odd suggestion but I personally think a general shift in the direction of collectivism would do us all a lot of good. I love individualism as well—but I think it’s getting out of hand.

We need to help each other more. We need to watch out for each other more. We need to embrace what the Malagasy people call “one family” meaning that all fellow human beings are part of your family—people older than you are your parents or grandparents, people in your age range are your siblings and people younger than you are your children. It is kind of like love your neighbor but here it’s called it collectivism.