Maintaining cultural coherence in the midst of cultural diversity - Reply to ''culture, self, and development: Are cultural templates useful or stereotypic?''

Journal/Book: Develop Rev. 1997; 17: 525 B St, Ste 1900, San Diego, CA 92101-4495. Academic Press Inc Jnl-Comp Subscriptions. 250-261.

Abstract: The individualism, collectivism, independence, and interdependence constructs are commonly used in considerations of culture and development, and this reply attempts to clarify a reconceptualization of these constructs. This reconceptualization represents a departure from traditional conceptualizations of individualism and collectivism in relation to independence and interdependence, and it also represents a move away from understanding these constructs in dichotomous, stereotypical, and unidimensional terms. Focusing on individualism, independence, and interdependence, the implications of the current perspective for the issue of stereotyping cultures and individuals and for the issue of the complexities of self-development are discussed. In considering the interrelations between cultural value systems and individual constructive activities, some reflections on the simultaneous organization and dynamism of human cultural processes are also offered.

Note: Editorial Raeff C, Indiana Univ Penn, Dept Psychol, Indiana,PA 15705 USA

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