Individualism Vs. Individualism Theory

We’ve all know what it feels like: walking down the halls in middle school or high school while you feel like you’re being watched…analyzed…critiqued. It would almost seem like every person you passed would be silently judging you for what you’re wearing, how you applied your makeup, how you did in the last soccer game, or what they heard you did with Jonny. The passerby’s in the hallway would place you on the high-school-hierarchy-of-coolness scale based on superficial characteristics even before getting to know you. Adolescence is a time of learning and forming an identity but it’s also a time where you are constantly being watched and evaluated by your peers, sometimes even put down by physical or verbal means. Bullying has always been

European literature of the late fifteenth century and early sixteenth century was a time marked by increased individualism and an inclination to remove all of the remnants of medieval society. It was a time of protest and reform of the ideals, that were once thought to be correct, to more modern ideas, such as free will and that the self-made individual occupies the center of a rational universe. As this new concept of individualism began to spread, there were apparent discrepancies between the noble ideals presented by the modern renaissance humanists and the reality of human behavior. The discrepancies are shown clearly by the Pico’s “Oration on the Dignity of Man” and Erasmus’ “Praise of Folly.” In the text by Pico, he describes the ideal characteristics of this new renaissance humanist movement emphasizing the individual. While in the text by Erasmus, he shows the shocking reality between human fallibility and human perfectibility.

Individualism-> when you value the freedom and worth of the individual, sometimes over the security and harmony of the group or a belief in the importance of the individual and the virtue of self-reliance and personal independence

It is easy to understand Solomon’s argument that unethical practices destroy the business and its key people. This has been proven by so many companies, such as Enron case, whose scandals have been unveiled to the public and the people who used to amass great wealth out of unethical practices are now behind bars. Even if they get out of prison, it will be difficult to imagine how they can recover from the negative image that the public already has on them.

Egoism says that an action is right if it satisfies long term interests. Thus from this point of view, the applicants’ actions were completely ethical, as the information only benefitted them. The applicants’ actions would be unethical from the point of view of utilitarianism, as it does not promote the happiness of the majority. This is because breaking into the confidential system of any university would lead to defaming it, thus affecting the students and faculty. Kant’s Ethics promotes the idea of doing what you expect from others. Thus this behavior would be seen as unethical, as ‘hacking’ or ‘breaking into a confidential system’ is not acceptable in our society. According to Ross’ pluralism, our moral obligations are prima facie obligations; those that can outweigh more important obligations. Which could only mean that the applicants judged their decision wrongly, thus making it unethical. Rule utilitarianism sees actions as right only if they comply with a rule leading to greater good. Therefore, it sees the applicants’ behavior as unethical.

In 2006 AOL, inadvertently, made public personal information, of some 650,000 of its members. “The members filed suit with California federal district court, on behalf of themselves and a putative nationwide class of AOL members, alleging violations of federal electronic privacy law, 18 U.S.C. § 2702(a). A subclass of AOL members who are California residents also alleged various violations of California law, including the California Consumers Legal Remedies Act, California Civil Code § 1770.” (Doe 1 v AOL LLC, 2009)

Throughout Anthem the reader’s perspective on Collectivism is persuaded to be negative due to the author’s point of view. “Collectivism is the idea that the individual’s life belongs not to him but to the group or society of which he is merely a part, that he has no rights, and that he must sacrifice his values and goals for the group’s common good”(Biddle, Craig. "Collectivism vs. Individualism." The Objective Standard. 2015. Web. 25 Sept. 2015.) Rand depicts the evils and negativities of Collectivism by showing how they aren’t allowed to think for themselves. They aren’t allowed to do things alone, have personal values, and love is also outlawed. Another negative aspect Rand portrays within collectivism is that all men must be alike and look out for their brothers. “We are nothing. Mankind is all. By the grace of our brothers are we allowed our lives. We exist through, by and for our brothers who are the State. Amen.” (Rand 21).

With the idea of humans as autonomous beings with dignity, philosopher Immanuel Kant would agree that all moral agents should value privacy and individuality for themselves and others. When social media companies take sensitive and personal information to gain profit, it would be treating people as merely a means to an end. Without authority of consent, it would infringe on a person’s privacy and would not treat the person with the respect one deserves as a rational human being. To treat social network users with respect means they should be treated as people as ends in themselves and not as bits and pieces of information to be used. Furthermore, the categorical imperative would say that it is immoral to intrude into another person’s private life on social media without permission or in secret. Because Kant insists that the morality of a maxim depends on whether we can allow it to be a universal law,

Eastern expressions of Transcendentalism differ from Western expressions in the belief of reincarnation, reality, and individualism. Eastern believing reincarnation and Western not. Eastern believing more on that the consciousness creates reality while Western tends to leans on being just is. Individualism or each person is a god, remains emphasized in the West but collectivism or all people is god being emphasized in the East. Both expressions of Transcendentalism hold that we are all one and that all reality is one spiritual

Over the past 150 years American Individualism has been changed. People have started to feel this sense of fear against one another, and even the government. The government are the individuals that are suppose to protect our values, and make us feel safe. Privacy is no longer a guarantee, and it can be taken away at any time. Throughout the pieces Society and Solitude, What to the Slave is The Fourth of July, and The Snowden Files. Many different examples of loss of privacy and the loss of the basic components of our society have taken place. In these pieces three different individuals Emerson, Douglass, and Snowden show how the effect of society, and the influence of the government has impacted American Individualism.

Many people across the world have their own definition and beliefs of the word individualism. There is nothing selfish to be able to express ones personality and internal emotions. Being an individual alone could value a person’s overall true character. The claim presented would be opposed by many because people like to feel independent and self-reliant. Individualism in today’s society lets people express themselves, and helps create something small into something big. For a long time now individualism has existed since the founding of our country. History was created by those who showed independence and proved that an individual can do it all.

Enron’s ride is quite a phenomenon: from a regional gas pipeline trader to the largest energy trader in the world, and then back down the hill into bankruptcy and disgrace. As a matter of fact, it took Enron 16 years to go from about $10 billion of assets to $65 billion of assets, and 24 days to go bankruptcy. Enron is also one of the most celebrated business ethics cases in the century. There are so many things that went wrong within the organization, from all personal (prescriptive and psychological approaches), managerial (group norms, reward system, etc.), and organizational (world-class culture) perspectives. This paper will focus on the business ethics issues at Enron that were raised from the documentation Enron: The Smartest Guys

1) An individualist is considered to be someone with personality and character, someone who is not easily intimidated by social pressure or customs, someone with a personal opinion and a singular view of the world. Because modern society finds it important that people think independently, decide autonomously and take personal initiatives, the concept of individualism has acquired a positive connotation. However, individualism is also linked with the tendency to withdraw from social life and turn in towards oneself.

All the consumers affected were also made vulnerable to subsequent identity theft given malicious attackers stole their personal data. Equifax was directly affected since its stock began to plunge immediately the news was made public. Additionally, the corporate governance of the company was tarnished given three Equifax executives sold shares worth around $2 million days after the breach discovery, and the “retiring” of the chief security information officers is questionable (Surane & Melin, 2017). Also, the company was exposed to litigations with some lobbyists and interest groups pushing regulators to hold Equifax accountable for the negligence and poor treatment of affected consumers. The proposed new data security laws will present a greater burden to other corporations. Two such laws are the Promoting Responsible Oversight of Transactions and Examinations of Credit Technology (PROTECT), and Freedom From Equifax Exploitation (FREE) will attract more government scrutiny and limit the type of personal data that companies can collect from customers (Alperan, Carter, & Sofio, 2017).

This essay will discuss the influence of cultural dimensions on behavior. A cultural dimension is defined as a perspective of a culture based on its values and cultural norms. In particular, Hofstede’s cultural dimension of individualism vs. collectivism will be discussed. Individualism vs collectivism is defined as the preference of a person only being concerned about oneself and looking after oneself, compared to a person who wants to remain in a closely knitted network. These are some terms with definitions which will be used in this essay: the Asch paradigm, which refers to the studies conducted by Solomon Asch, in which he showed his participants different lines and asked them to verbally judge and respond as to what the length of the