America has a very individualistic culture.  It has a culture where the emphasis or priority is placed on the individual instead of the group.  We, Americans, are oriented around the self.  Individualism sees the individual as its main focus, and values independence and self reliance.  With Individualism, we don’t want society to get in the way of our goals, desires, and self expression. Individualism can be seen as another worldview.

There are several popular slogans that emphasize Individualism in society.  Here are a few

• Be true to yourself.
• Follow your heart.
• You do you.
• You be you.
• You need to find yourself.

Notice the ‘you’ in all of these slogans.  They are saying what is most important is yourself.  That means your freedom, your happiness, and how you define and express yourself is the highest good.  Everything else is secondary.  It is all about you.  Advertisers know this.  Their ads promote sayings like “you deserve it”, “you need it”, and “we will take good care of you”.

What are the beliefs of Individualism? You decide what is right for you. You are the ultimate authority.  External authorities are to be considered, questioned, and/or rejected. There should be nothing that restricts your freedom or your self-expression, so you can be truly authentic.  You are effectively an autonomous person.  Tolerance of others is defined around accepting the identities and expressions of others.  An individualist believes that if everyone did this, the world would be a better place, because humans are inherently good.

There are some good things about our individualistic society.  We tend to put value on each and every person.  Our Declaration of Independence says “all men are created equal”. That comes from our Christian heritage, because Christianity says each and every one of us are of very high value in the sight of God for God fully and completely loves each and every one of us.

Unfortunately, we all have this tendency to be self-centered. The worldview of Individualism promotes this self-centeredness. Many times we are willing to do whatever in order to fulfill our goals and desires.  And many times our goals, our desires, and our self-expressions are not good for society as a whole or for our neighbor next door.  The problem is we are not inherently good.  We need boundaries. We need to have restrictions on our desires, our goals, and our self-expression, so to protect others.

Technology has made us less dependent upon each other.  In general, technology supports Individualism. Many times, we do not need to interact with others.  We type our own letters and emails.  We purchase stuff from the comfort of our own home.  We research ideas and concepts without attending a lecture or debate.  Technology has made this possible, and it can be very isolating. 

I think Individualism has created some of society’s problems.  We are very divided as a country.  We have done our own thinking and will not listen to the opposing side because we are the authority for ourselves.  We do not want to be ordinary, so we find unique ways to express ourselves and define ourselves (think gender fluidity).  We hide our real selves, so to craft a self we think people will like.  We leave relationships because at the moment we are not feeling the “love”.  We do not worry about the long term consequences of our decisions and our actions on ourselves and others, but we rather expect society to welcome our authentic self.

I think many of today’s problems boil down to the “Me First” mentality of Individualism.  Because of the “Me First” mentality, Americans have lost sight of the needs of others.  They will only deal with the needs of others only when it does not negatively impact themselves.  God is not on the throne of their heart.  They are.  I believe American culture has taken the individual too far.  We need to be less selfish and more concerned with being good members of society.