The Ambivalent Collective: Is there anything good for freedom in the “collective”?

1. The Ambivalent Collective:Is there anything good for freedom in the “collective”? Ian Hansen

2. How social psychology came to hate the group in 3 steps • Step 1: Attempt to explain Nazism without prejudicial reference to “German national character” Why did we do it? Because mass murdering death camps are tidy and efficient, with a romantic flourish of schaudenfrade An obsolete explanation

3. How social psychology came to hate the group in 3 steps • Step 2: Do groundbreaking experiments on how social influence overwhelms rational, compassionate, industrious individuality Groupthink Deindividuation Social loafing Prejudice Diffusion of responsibility Conformity Obedience to authority Group => =>

4. How social psychology came to hate the group in 3 steps • Step 3: Conclude that all social coordination and social influence is a psychological cousin of fascism = Nazi pilot social coordination Labor union social coordination

5. Implication: Screw the unions; screw the welfare state; do your own thing, man Chauvinist individualism: To be truly free, we must all be atomistic, unattached rugged individualists (a.k.a. Rational Economic Man)

6. Chauvinist individualism as contra ALL kinds of collectivity and interdependence • Both collectiv-ISM (“Asian”ness, religiousness, other focus vs. self focus, etc.) • And collective ACTION (civic participation, high voter turnout, town halls, mass protests, labor unions, etc) • But running a corporation might be okay, since corporations are individual persons, and being in the military is okay too—”an army of one”

7. Is chauvinist individualism self-cancelling? It is just like my country: leader selected who can dangle heaviest weight from his teste-sack. Leader just like Stalin, crushes the stupid peasants to make Kazakhstan greatest country!

8. Cultural Psychology as antidote to individualist chauvinism? • Collectivists may not love freedom, but at least they respect community and divinity, and in some ways they’re not so rigid: • Less FAE • Less narcissism, deceptive self-enhancement (Japanese) • Believe in malleability of intelligence, personality, moral character • Attendant to the field, not just the object • Persistence after failure (Japanese) • More dialectical, holistic

9. “Collectivists may not love freedom but….??!!!” • Is this paradigm really an antidote to chauvinist individualism, or a patronizing moral consolation prize to non-Western cultures? • So when Bush says, “they hate our freedom” is our response “no they don’t; they hate being bomded and occupied” or “well, yes they hate our freedom, but the value of freedom is culturally relative…”

10. A look at individualism and freedom (in 30 nations) • Individualism (rated by cross-cultural psychology expert Harry Triandis) • Freedom (civil and political liberty as rated by Freedom House) • Individualism is indeed a robust predictor of freedom in a nation: • r(30) = .71, p < .001

11. Individualism and quality of life in the U.S. Individualism (measured by Vandello & Cohen, 2000) Quality of Life (2004 Quinto Livability Index) Individualism is indeed a robust predictor of quality of life • r(50) = .46, p < .001

12. Score one for chauvinist individualism Crush the peasants and let freedom ring!

13. This suggests that individualism is of value to freedom, but in contrast to what? • In contrast to collectiv-ISM • Or contrast to collective ACTION? • Or both? • Triandis’ assessment and Vandello and Cohen’s both work with an individualism-vs-collectivism scale, but when measured as non-inverse constructs (e.g. Singelis interdepence/independence), they are often orthogonal or even positively correlated

14. What about collective action • Collective action as social contract • Individuals bind together to take action because of shared individual interests • Group identity is tentative and subject to review, subordinate to individual values and goals • Examples of collective action that individualists can be drawn to: voting for a political party, a street protest, joining a labor union

15. Voting for a political party

16. Street protest

17. Joining a labor union

18. But is such collective action a psychological trap? • And will it ultimately lead to collectiv-ISM and thus destroy individual freedom? • With deindividuation, groupthink, conformity, social loafing, etc, Obey solidarity! Smash freedom! Curse you collective action!

19. In fact… • Union density is positively correlated with national freedom: • r(30) = .39, p < .05 • Voter turnout is also positively correlated with national freedom: • r(30) = .55, p < .01 • …and both forms of collective action predict freedom when holding individualism statistically constant

20. Union density and voter turnout are closely linked r(30) = .62 p< .001 voter turnout union density

21. In the U.S. • Union density is not correlated with quality of life • Nor is it correlated with voter turnout • But voter turnout IS correlated with quality of life: r(51) = .60, p < .001 • Again, this relationship is not mediated by individualism

22. U.S. union density in perspective • Very low union density (13.6% in 2000) • Low correlation because of restricted range? • In 1964, union density was 29.3% • In 1964 the correlation between voter turnout and union density was r(51) = .54, p < .001 • Also, state declines in voter turnout and union density from 1964-2000 are strongly correlated, r(51) = .51, p < .001

23. Recommended reading All social capital appears to be in decline—not just voter turnout and union density. Reason? Perhaps precipitated by the explosion of solitary-oriented technology (TV, computers, gameboys, etc), which exploits and magnifies pre-existing cultural “space” for individual solitude

24. Collective action (and perhaps all social capital) rise and fall together • The popularity of one form of collective action rises and falls with the popularity of other forms of collective action, e.g. labor union participation and voter turnout falling falling

25. Complex story for freedom • Collective action (at least voter turnout) predicts freedom and quality of life independent of individualism individualism freedom Quality of life + Collective action

26. Implications • Freedom is most evident where there is a COMBINATION of collective action with individualism, rather than one without the other

27. A freedom recipe? • Collective action without individualism may indeed be more vulnerable to groupthink, deindividuation, diffusion of responsibility, etc.

28. A freedom recipe? • Individualism without collective action is likely to create a society of winners and losers, with winners largely uninterested in and unaccountable to the freedom or general welfare of losers.

29. A freedom recipe? • Individualism with collective action helps ensure not only the security of individual conscience, but also the accountability of the powerful to those whose lives are affected by their economic and political decisions.

30. Is there psychological tension between individualism and collective action? • Sociologically they both sit very well with freedom, but they may be difficult to hold together psychologically • Too difficult to be an independent individual and effectively coordinate action with others at the same time?

31. Freedom-oriented people support collective action in the abstract but less so in its messy reality • Freedom-oriented people: those who score low on Altemeyer’s (1996) authoritarianism and high on support for democratic values • Collective action in the abstract: general support for labor unions in one’s nation • Collective action in messy reality: support for actual local labor unions whose actions affect your life

32. Sample: undergraduates affected by teaching assistant strike The freedom-oriented undergrads supported unions generally but were more ambivalent in their support for real-life teaching assistants and their allies

33. Coolness, anti-authoritarianism and narcissistic individualist chauvinism • Narcissism scales are not related to authoritarianism scales • However “coolness”—both friendly, creative, confident, sexy coolness and rebellious, ironic, rough & tough coolness—embodies anti-authoritarianism (and to some extent anti-traditionalism and anti-religiousity generally)

34. Coolness, anti-authoritarianism and narcissistic individualist chauvinism • Coolness also potentially relates to psychological independence and “culture of narcissism” • Narcissism, however, predicts some of the same things predicted by authoritarianism: notably aggression and intolerance • Narcissism is also easier for capitalism to sell to than modest humility • As capitalism gets stronger, though, so do the “winners” who may come to depend on authoritarianism both to “preserve order” and to prevent populist anti-business policies

35. Coolness, anti-authoritarianism and narcissistic individualist chauvinism • From cool anti-authoritarianism to cool narcissism to “cool fascismo”: • from (a) anti-slavery resistance • to (b) “rolling down the street smoking indo, sipping on gin and juice, with my mind on my money and my money on my mind” • to (c) “Muslims are stupid backwards peasants: let’s roll!”

36. So • It’s hard to be a cool detached individualist and a faithful sibling of solidarity too I want a cigarette We want a contract!

37. But the apparent dichotomy between individualism and collective action as a predictor of freedom is an illusion Collective action Individualism