The origin of Individuality
Human beings are both individuals and group members. However, the group membership has been stressed particularly strongly during certain periods and in certain cultures. In other contexts, the independence of the individual has been emphasized.
Individuality seems to be favoured as a psychological state of mind when a person experiences contrasts to his or her own social environment, thereby becoming particularly conscious of himself or herself as a unique creature. This can sometimes be explained by high educational and economic status on the part of the individual. Such an experience might alternatively be expected from facing a population mixture characterized by ethnic, lingusistic and other cultural contrasts. The population mixture in Europe and in the United States, as regards ethnicity, language and mentality, accounts for a particular stress on individuality, in contrast to Japan and China, where the collectivistic tendency is also explained by Buddhist religion and Confucian philosophy.
Another significant factor seems to be found in the difference between the big city and the village environment, where life is heavily shaped by practicaleconomic and psychological dependencies.
Abraham Maslow’s thesis concerning a universal hierarchy of basic needs invites us to regard individuality from still another angle. Immaterial needs, such as selfactualization, will only develop when all material needs have been satisfied.
Mass media are powerful distributors of culturally constructed self-images. Advertising is particularly important by approaching single individuals as separate consumers, which is consistent with the postmodern perception of man as a self-dependent actor and maker of his or her individual life.
