Collectivistic and individualistic cultures

Collectivistic and individualistic cultures

After reading chapters 2&3 please answer the following questions:

1.This chapter discusses collectivistic and individualistic cultures. Reflect on your own family’s values. Are they more collectivistic or iindividualistic?

2. In reflecting on Family Systems Theory, what is one life experience you have had within your family that you can apply to Family System Theory? How did it impact you but also those around you? This can be a positive or negative experience.

*reply on this peer’s post 1. I believe that my family is somewhere in the middle of collectivist and individualistic. My family is very close and we are always there for eachother but my parents have promoted many individualistic aproaches towards my sister and I such as promoting self expression, flexability, independence and individual achievement. It seems that throughout my family, the adults teach the younger family members individualistic ideas to try and help them in life but they do this by using collectivist ideas. The adults in the family care for the younger generations and they want to teach them how to succeed in life. My family is always helping one another through thick and thin and they do this through collectivist ideas, but we are also individualistic because we are taught that it’s okay to want privacy, strive for individual experience and promote individual thinking.

undefined3. A life experience that I had within my family has to do with my Great Grandfather having Alzhimers and my Grandmother having beginning stages of Alzhimers. These events have really brought my family together as a whole, but it has not been easy. Watching a family member deteriorate from the effects of Alzhimers is one of the worst things anyone can experience. My mom has especially had a difficult time because she works in the healthcare industry and has noticed my grandmothers beginning stages for a long time now and she was also present when my Great Grandfather dealt with his worst stages before passing away. It has been very difficult and will only get worse as time goes on, but my family has stuck through it and we will always be by each other’s side. With the possibility of this disease passing down to younger generations, my family takes no chances on missing any time we can spend together. The Family Systems Theory relates to my family because this difficult situation has brought us together and made us act as one unit, we are always going to be there for eachother no matter what happens or how scared we are of the future!