个人主义与市民社会——关于个人主义的一种解释

个人主义是西方化发展的一条主线。个人主义可分为极端个人主义与合理个人主义两种。过去人们认为个人主义是在资本主义发展过程中逐步形成的道德原则,与资本主义制度相适应。实际上个人主义是以商品经济为基础的市民社会的产物,资本主义有市民社会,社会主义有市民社会,个人主义在社会主义国家也存在。只是社会主义国家以建立“真正的”集体主义为道德目标,所以它极力反对极端个人主义,只允许合理个人主义存在和发展,并且限制于市场社会领域,反对泛滥于国家生活领域。     

理解个人主义要正本清源——兼与黄显中同志商榷

个人主义作为资本主义社会的主流意识形态 ,有其深刻的现实根源 ,并不是理性发展的结果。市民社会与个人主义之间并没有必然联系。个人主义与集体主义存在根本的冲突。为了巩固集体主义在公民道德建设的主导地位 ,我们必须全面地认识个人主义。     

权利个人主义与道德个人主义辨析 ——兼论当代中国的个人主义现状和趋势

17世纪至18世纪的欧洲出现了两种截然对立的个人主义思潮——权利个人主义和道德个人主义。权利个人主义主要是感性的,它强调个人获取和占有财产、追求幸福的权利(洛克)以及得到个人安全的权利(霍布斯)。这种个人主义实际上主张权利高于责任,权利优先于责任。道德个人主义主要由康德建立,在康德的笔下,个人上升到了道德人格的层面,他超越了欲望满足阶段,在内心中给自己制定了道德法。这种道德法是具有理性精神、获得了独立、能够自主自律的现代人给自己制定的道德准则。道德个人主义主张责任高于权利,责任优先于权利。在当代中国,权利个人主义大行其道,道德个人主义"芳踪难觅"。随着中国政治体制改革的深入进行,中国政治的民主化和法治化的程度将日益提高,中国将出现一个崭新的公民社会。具有公民精神的中国人将同时坚持权利个人主义和道德个人主义,并使两者达到某种平衡。     

西方学者对个人主义的沉重反思

西方学者对作为资本主义意识形态总汇的个人主义的内在矛盾及与生俱来的弊端,往往比非西方社会背景的人们拥有更为深切的认识。本文评述了西方学者关于个人主义的弊端以及个人主义的发展前途等问题的一系列观点,力求为人们加深对个人主义危害性的认识,提供一些有价值的参考材料。     

个人主义与自我驱动--美国人的自我观

个人主义是美国文化的主体,美国人信奉个人主义有其历史传统.美国个人主义的基本内容是自主动机,自主抉择,通过自力更生达到自我实现.这是一个动态的概念,它不是一成不变的,而是随着社会发展不断被赋予新的内涵.我们对待美国个人主义既不能简单地批判和否定,也不能盲目地迷信和追从,而应当采取扬弃的态度,并坚持集体主义不动摇.     

个人主义方法的重新审视

个人主义及其方法,是近代尤其是当代具有影响的伦理思想及其方法。对于其产生与发展颇具争议：一方面,个人主义的方法原则把人从社会中剥离出来,使他成为周围事物和他自己的惟一评判,赋予他不断膨胀的权利;另一方面,它也为遭到长期压迫的人类思想提供了呼吸的空间和活动的范围,使一个人可以满怀尊严,能够亲自解决自己的幸福与命运问题。     

个人主义道德观辨析--兼论为什么不能以个人主义为主导价值观

个人主义是一种社会政治哲学和道德价值观,主张一切价值均以人为中心,尤其强调个人尊严、个人权利、个人价值、个人平等和个人自由.个人主义不等于利己主义,更不等于极端自私自利、损人利己和无政府主义.个人主义与集体主义有本质区别,在发展社会主义市场经济过程中,不能以个人主义为主导价值观,要坚持集体主义价值导向,反对极端个人主义价值观,正确评价个人主义价值观,抑制其消极作用,肯定其积极作用.     

论集体主义的历史特征及其生命力——从集体主义与个人主义的关系说起

作为新的价值观,集体主义与个人主义是有本质区别的,它们分别植根于不同的社会关系基础上,有着不同的历史特征;但是,前者对后者又有着深刻的历史继承关系,集体主义充分吸取了个人主义的有价值因素,所以,集体主义是比个人主义更高层次的价值观。集体主义的这个形成过程,使它具有了比个人主义更强大的生命力。     

个人主义

孔德把个人主义称为西方社会病。托克维尔认为,“个人主义起初只是损害公共生活的美德,但从长远的观点来看,它却侵袭和摧毁了所有其他美德,陷入彻头彻尾的自私。”此外,他又指出,个人主义还使人“永远地依靠他孤独的自身,并最终可能将他完全禁锢于其内心的孤独寂寞之中。”涂尔干认为,个人主义是一种具有威胁性的西方“社会思潮”,其表现是不断增长的自杀率、社会混乱和集体意识的普遍削弱。戴高乐声称,个人主义是“道德病”的     

个人主义种种

从某种形式上来说,个人主义几乎一直是所有西方国家思想的核心。然而,它的实质却未得到充分分析和明确认识。“个人主义”这一术语在不同意义上适用于现代社会的许多不同方面。美国意识形态所论及的“粗犷的个人主义”(rugged in-dividualism)是对那种具有单独竞争能力的创业者的赞美,然而这种创业者至多只是过去所谓善于处理经济事务的人物而已。更广泛地说,个人主义具有肯定的含义,即强调个别人的独特性和利益。有时,它具有否定的含义,但这种含义在当代英语社会中并不十分普遍。有时个人主义适用于那些排斥社会利益特别是那些自私自利、只关心他们个人利益的人。     

Self and society in the claims of individualism

The paper argues that an assessment of individualism requires distinguishing five individualistic claims about the self and society: 1) Philosophical Individualism holds that individuals are distinct from society in their reality and capacity for knowledge; 2) The dignity of the individual is a moral belief about the status of human beings; 3) The ideal of individuality is a value belief about the value of diversity; 4) Moral individualism is a comprehensive moral theory based upon philosophical individualism; 5) Political liberalism is a theory of social justice based on construing human dignity in terms of equal liberty. It is argued that philosophical individualism should be rejected and, hence, moral individualism, that individuality is desirable but not obligatory, and that political liberalism, if it can avoid a tendency toward favoring individualistic conceptions of the good, is necessary for dignity in a modern society.     

The Interplay of Empathy and Individualism in Support for Social Welfare Policies

Public support for government welfare programs is grounded in two potentially conflicting factors: a belief in individualism which undermines support for welfare assistance and the capacity for empathy which potentially enhances support. However, empathy is an expensive psychological commodity subject to pervasive up- and down-regulation. This article examines the degree to which a belief in individualism affects the expression of compassionate support for a person in need among those with the capacity for empathy. In two online survey experiments, empathic ability powerfully increases support for a welfare recipient and social welfare policies when it does not conflict with individualism. But, empathic ability decreases compassion and support for government welfare among strong individualists. Evidence that individualists down-regulate empathy for someone in need of government assistance is consistent with the conservative view that welfare promotes dependency and undermines individual agency. In contrast, charitable assistance is not associated with long-term dependency, and we find that empathy is up-regulated by strong individualists to generate charitable support for the same individual to whom they denied government assistance. The up- and down-regulation of empathy in response to someone in need of government welfare helps illuminate the sharp divisions over social welfare policy among the American public.     

Individualism and sociocultural adaptation: Discrimination and social capital as moderators among rural‐to‐urban migrants in China

This study examined the associations of sociocultural adaptation with individualism and collectivism and the moderating roles of discrimination and social capital in the associations among rural‐to‐urban migrants (N = 641) in Beijing, China. Results indicated that individualism was associated with poorer adaptation for migrants reporting low perceived discrimination or low social capital. However, migrants reporting high perceived discrimination showed poorer adaptation, regardless of individualism; and migrants reporting high social capital showed better adaptation, regardless of individualism. Collectivism was not related to adaptation. Findings suggest that individualism may be detrimental to migrants’ adjustment to a collectivistic society.     

Humanizing education in the Soviet Union: A plea for caution in these postmodern times

In this article, the author problematizes the process of humanizing education in the era of perestroika and glasnost. Identifying herself as a democratic socialist, Kohli invites her Soviet colleagues to acknowledge the criticisms of liberal capitalism before they move headlong in that direction. In deconstructing such taken-for-granted concepts as individualism, democracy, market economy, and community, Kohli suggests that both the West and the East could benefit from re-visiting their respective revolutionary traditions at this crucial historical time.     

Methodological altruism as an alternative foundation for individual optimization

Can economics, which is based on the notion of individual optimization, really model individuals who have a sense of exteriority? This question, derived both from Marcel Mauss's sociological analysis of the social norm of gift-giving and from Emmanuel Levinas's phenomenological analysis of the idea of 'otherness,' leads to the problem of whether it is possible to model altruism with the tool of optimization. By investigating the ways in which economic theory can address this challenge, and by introducing a postulate of methodological altruism following Levinas's theory of the constitution of subjectivity through otherness, this paper uncovers an alternative foundation for the very notion of optimizing calculation - no longer as a self-centered initiative, but rather as an other-centered response. This makes it possible to clarify the implicit content of usual economic individualism, and to see on the basis of which ethical arguments the economic method of optimization may be upheld. The paper studies the consequences of this renewed foundation of optimization for the organization of a fair and efficient interaction between altruists.     

Open society fosters satisfaction: explanation to why individualism associates with country level measures of satisfaction

ABSTRACT

Although the association between individualism and satisfaction in societies is well documented, the precise mechanism linking these two remained understudied so far. Here we coin and describe the specific facet of individualism responsible for the above association–the ‘open society’. Open societies foster four others-benefitting attitudes: tolerance, trust, civic engagement, and minimization of materialistic pressure. In the others-benefitting qualities of these four attitudes, this paper finds the mechanism promoting life satisfaction of societies. Further, when open society attitudes are controlled for, the most common facet of individualism (quantified by Hofstede) turns out to be a negative predictor of satisfaction in societies. At the individual level of analysis, the relation of endorsement of four open society attitudes with individual life satisfaction is almost absent. Thus, open society promotes the satisfaction of communities in a eusocial way only.     

个体主义的地区差异和代际变迁

个体主义作为一个重要的文化维度, 是指强调注重自我的独立性、重视个人目标和成就的价值取向。个体主义的测量方法包括自我报告、启动法以及心外之物的客观指标测量。近来气候—经济理论和病原体假说等新的影响个体主义的因素被证实。个体主义不仅存在着文化之间差异, 同时也存在着同一文化内部的地区(州、省)差异。另外, 从纵向的角度利用大数据和客观指标发现, 同一文化内个体主义呈现逐渐增强的代际变化趋势。未来个体主义的研究要从多种测量方法来综合考察。