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The Politics And Values Of Individualists And Collectivists: A Cross-Cultural Comparison, David Y. Bourgeois

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation examines horizontal and vertical individualism and collectivism as testable dimensions of cultural variation. Collectivism emphasizes the primacy of norms, duties, and obligations, whereas individualism favors maximum enjoyment for the individual, interpersonal contracts, and freedom fiom the collectivity. While the horizontal dimension stresses equality, the vertical dimension calls attention to hierarchy. While past research (Triandis, 1995, Triandis & Gelfand, 1998) has demonstrated the convergent and divergent validity of horizontal and vertical individualism and collectivism, it is contended that the Triandis (1 995) measures of horizontal and vertical individualism and collectivism could provide predictive value by discriminating between attitudinal responses …