This next main chapter section of the text is called: "Variation in the Meaning of Self."
The author has just finished discussing individualism in the previous chapter.
"On the other hand, collectivism and interdependence as a world view focuses attention on maintenance of social norms and performance of social duties as defined by the ingroup and is characterized by interactions with relatively few others in long term and stable relationships (e.g., Sinha & Verma, 1987; Triandis, 1990a, 1990b). The group is viewed as the basic unit of survival (Hui & Villareal, 1989). The development and maintenance of a set of common beliefs, attitudes, and practices is extolled, and the importance of cooperation with ingroup members is highlighted (Georgas, 1989; Hui & Triandis, 1986; Markus & Kitayama, 1991a). Attempts to distinguish between the personal and the communal are likely to appear false and be suspect (Triandis, 1990a, 1990b), social responsiveness is valued, and individuals are expected to attain understanding of their place within the ingroup by reflecting on and attending to the needs of the group (Cousins, 1989, Markus & Kitayama, 1991a). Relationships are ascribed as a function of ingroup membership; they are intense, enduring, and not described in utilitarian terms (Miller, Bersoff, & Harwood, 1990; Triandis, 1987)." (p. 210)
I think this is a fair depiction of how the Vienna mission operated. There is only one sentence here that I think might not be quite as strict as the others, but maybe it's best to just take the whole; maybe I'm wrong about that one sentence.
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"A collectivist view of the self suggests that each individual is to be judged as centrally defined by his/her in- or outgroup membership. Collectivists are socialized to interact in a friendly way with ingroup not outgroup members, conflict is conceived of as an intergroup phenomena (Triandis, 1990a, 1990b), and relatively high levels of such conflict are perceived (Oyserman, in press). Outgroup members are treated with suspicious or even hostility, and ingroup members are to take advantage of outgroup members when it is possible (Triandis, 1987, 1988). Since cooperation occurs primarily with ingroup members, peaceful coexistence is heavily dependent on perception of the other as a member of an ingroup. This ingroup may be on a higher order of abstraction than is relevant for every day and peaceful coexistence (Triandis, 1987). However, ingroups cannot be created at will, for collectivists only certain groups are meaningful and culturally prescribed norms dictate which attributes are necessary for meaningful group formation (Hsu, 1983)." (p. 210)
This text also applies to the Vienna mission. I should maybe say, though, that this doesn't really apply to the U.S. office, where I worked about 3 months, so it was pretty much a unique phenomenon to the Vienna office. However, there were, I think, individuals in the U.S. office that new the system in Vienna, and I'm thinking of the U.S. director especially, who also participated in mission board meetings and took teaching trips into Eastern Europe. Excluding the time I was in the U.S. I think I was mostly thought of as an outsider.
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This last snippet is from the "Conclusions" section of this chapter:
"It appears that too little attention has been paid to the ways in which people are products of their particular cultural, historical, and institutional settings (Wertsch, 1989)." (p. 212)
My childhood was really pretty stable and unremarkable in many ways, but it's my adult life where I have found that I can not only divide my life into periods by what I was doing, but also what I learned - as a major life lesson - during those periods. For example:
1978-1982 Undergraduate studies (European Studies, minor in Russian)
> Lesson learned: to want to try to get into the skins of nationals - really understand them in a run of the mill every day life type of way
1982-1986 Bible school & other career missions preparation
> Lesson learned: to think for myself, especially regarding theology, values and ethics
1987-1989 Vienna mission
> Lesson learned: disillusionment
Etc.
In many ways I am my experiences, but not only my experiences but also my responses to those experiences and my interpretations of them and lessons learned from them.
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That's the end of this paper, and I'm going to stop here. We've got 2 more to go in this file.
