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Collectivism In Central Appalachia: Educational And Career Implications, Heidi Leigh Creamer

Theses, Dissertations and Capstones

Individualistic cultures tend to focus on freedom, individuality, and personal autonomy. Mainstream America is found to be a vertical individualistic society, but research has shown there are pockets of collectivistic cultures within the US. Collectivistic cultures, in contrast, tend to focus on family, conformity, and thinking of the group before one’s self. Collectivism arises due to a population’s need to rely on one another for resources. As such, low resource environments are subject to having collectivistic values. Research suggests that collectivism rates are higher in impoverished areas, such as Appalachia. This investigation focused on central Appalachia and the attributes that …