Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- List of figures
- List of tables
- List of contributors
- Preface
- Introduction: social comparison processes and levels of analysis
- Part 1 Cognition: comparison processes within and between individuals
- Part 2 Intergroup relations: comparison processes within and between groups
- Part 3 Culture: comparison processes within and across cultures
- 11 Stereotype content across cultures as a function of group status
- 12 The cultural norm of individualism and group status: implications for social comparisons
- 13 Ambivalent sexism, power distance, and gender inequality across cultures
- 14 Social comparisons across cultures I: Gender stereotypes in high and low power distance cultures
- 15 Social comparisons across cultures II: Change and stability in self-views – experimental evidence
- Author index
- Subject index
- References
12 - The cultural norm of individualism and group status: implications for social comparisons
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 27 October 2009
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Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- List of figures
- List of tables
- List of contributors
- Preface
- Introduction: social comparison processes and levels of analysis
- Part 1 Cognition: comparison processes within and between individuals
- Part 2 Intergroup relations: comparison processes within and between groups
- Part 3 Culture: comparison processes within and across cultures
- 11 Stereotype content across cultures as a function of group status
- 12 The cultural norm of individualism and group status: implications for social comparisons
- 13 Ambivalent sexism, power distance, and gender inequality across cultures
- 14 Social comparisons across cultures I: Gender stereotypes in high and low power distance cultures
- 15 Social comparisons across cultures II: Change and stability in self-views – experimental evidence
- Author index
- Subject index
- References
Summary
Western societies value personal autonomy and interpersonal distinctiveness. These values have substantial implications for people's comparison strategies. In western societies, the default comparison other is the individual rather than the group. People thus tend to engage in interpersonal rather than intergroup comparisons (Festinger, 1954). However, in this chapter, we argue for a two-stage model in which group status moderates this general, shared tendency. Members of high-status groups embody the values of society to a greater extent than do members of low-status groups. Hence, they emphasize individual comparisons more often than do subordinates. This status moderation is illustrated by research examples carried out in a variety of domains.
Cultural values and social comparison processes among the dominants and the subordinates
Western societies value beliefs in the uniqueness and separateness of individuals. These beliefs emphasize individualist or egocentric characteristics of the person such as independence, autonomy, achievement, and competitiveness. The prototypical western person is deemed an “independent, self-contained, autonomous entity who comprises a unique configuration of internal attributes such as traits, abilities, motives, and values, and behaves primarily as a consequence of these internal attributes.” (Markus and Kitayama, 1991, p. 224) People in western societies strive for idiosyncrasies, inner potentials, excellence, and praise interpersonal diversity. Accordingly, they tend to make comparison at the personal level rather than the group level (Snyder and Fromkin, 1980), and to confer more value on individual than collective behavior (Lalonde and Silverman, 1994).
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- Social Comparison and Social PsychologyUnderstanding Cognition, Intergroup Relations, and Culture, pp. 264 - 282Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2005
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