Internet is a universally used device which has many strong potentialities like changing the centuries- old ways of thought and patterns of communication. Worldwide relationships inevitably convey many new meanings and reflections to the lives of people. In this between, America, as the dominator of the cyberspace, exports its culture effectively. One important aspect which is held by the help of inherent characteristics of the cyber space itself is individualism.
Individualism is a modern concept referring to "societies with a loosely knit social framework, where the interests of the individuals usually prevail over the interests of the group"(Tapanesa, Smith, White. Cultural diversity in online learning. Sciencedirect.com). As McKay says in "American politics and society", "it is rooted in pluralism". Meaning there's no special ideological, ethnic, religious or linguistic, in whole collectivist prejudice in a society and all of them are accepted beside each other. This situation is contrary to the collectivism. In such societies "individuals are integrated into strong and cohesive groups based on protection and loyalty"(Tapanesa… Cultural diversity…).as a matter of fact, according to McKay, "individualism is the best thing to represent Americanism". It is one of the most fundamental traits of American identity as this society is basically founded on diverse ethnic, cultural, linguistic and etc groups. Formally, they all are equal before the law and make one united whole.
Individualism is a modern concept referring to "societies with a loosely knit social framework, where the interests of the individuals usually prevail over the interests of the group"(Tapanesa, Smith, White. Cultural diversity in online learning. Sciencedirect.com). As McKay says in "American politics and society", "it is rooted in pluralism". Meaning there's no special ideological, ethnic, religious or linguistic, in whole collectivist prejudice in a society and all of them are accepted beside each other. This situation is contrary to the collectivism. In such societies "individuals are integrated into strong and cohesive groups based on protection and loyalty"(Tapanesa… Cultural diversity…).as a matter of fact, according to McKay, "individualism is the best thing to represent Americanism". It is one of the most fundamental traits of American identity as this society is basically founded on diverse ethnic, cultural, linguistic and etc groups. Formally, they all are equal before the law and make one united whole.
Internet is one of the tools conducting individualism. However, nowadays, most of the people of the world share the cyber space; it's United States that still dominates this network. Its search engines, famous news, scientific and many other sites belong to U.S. As a result internet with millions of viewers everyday is a great tool for cultural export. American goods, books, movies, stars, models and etc are advertised in universally famous sites. All these will the American way of thought, part of which is individualism.
People need to interact with the world and the fastest, easiest way is using internet. It doesn't matter how collectivist they be, they have to face the diverse cultures ways of thought and as a matter of fact have to respect all in the interactions if they all are the citizens of a united cyber space with the ultimate levels of diversity. So, in this way, individualism enters the lives of people from eastern or western collectivist countries. According to Geert Lovint in "Mass psychology of the net: A proposal", when internet began to serve the public, " postmodern theory spread the rumor that there were no longer crowds, only micro units, communities and most of all, scattered individuals, trying to define their own uniqueness, each of them dealing with their own psycho specialties. The social sciences and humanities followed the 'lonely crowed' in their spasmodic attempts to differentiate themselves"(139-140).
At the end, internet is one of the most effective tools to convey individualism as an inseparable part of American identity to the old world whose culture is mostly collectivist. The reason is that as an American invention, it's still dominated by them both in hard and soft wares. On the other hand, interaction with people via internet, automatically leads to a sense of individualism.
People need to interact with the world and the fastest, easiest way is using internet. It doesn't matter how collectivist they be, they have to face the diverse cultures ways of thought and as a matter of fact have to respect all in the interactions if they all are the citizens of a united cyber space with the ultimate levels of diversity. So, in this way, individualism enters the lives of people from eastern or western collectivist countries. According to Geert Lovint in "Mass psychology of the net: A proposal", when internet began to serve the public, " postmodern theory spread the rumor that there were no longer crowds, only micro units, communities and most of all, scattered individuals, trying to define their own uniqueness, each of them dealing with their own psycho specialties. The social sciences and humanities followed the 'lonely crowed' in their spasmodic attempts to differentiate themselves"(139-140).
At the end, internet is one of the most effective tools to convey individualism as an inseparable part of American identity to the old world whose culture is mostly collectivist. The reason is that as an American invention, it's still dominated by them both in hard and soft wares. On the other hand, interaction with people via internet, automatically leads to a sense of individualism.
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