Chapter 6: On Your Own

Overview

Of all American myths, none is stronger than that of the loner moving west across the land.
” Daniel Boorstin, The Americans

Americans don t like to depend on other people. They don t like to owe them, need them, or be beholden to them. They are generally quite wary of entanglements, of being encumbered, of anything that limits their ability to be true to themselves . In a word, they want to be free ” and freedom in the United States boils down to not having to worry about what other people think or what they will say; it means having to answer to no one but yourself. If that sounds like a prescription for loneliness, which it does to many people, Americans would shrug their shoulders and say it s simply the price one has to pay to be independent. American laws, not surprisingly, are conspicuously weighted in favor of protecting individual rights, very often at the expense of society.

This does not mean that Americans don t like to help other people or even to be helped by them. Everyone needs a hand on occasion, and Americans are very quick to offer support and encouragement, often going out of their way to help relative strangers, people they may never see again. Nor does it mean that Americans never join groups or belong to civic, fraternal, or social organizations; there are thousands of such organizations, with millions of members happily working side by side for some cause greater than themselves. Individualism American-style doesn t mean not caring about others; it means not giving up control of one s life and one s destiny to others, being able to make one s own decisions as free as possible from outside influence.

In one of the most extensive studies of individualism (and its opposite , collectivism) in the workplace, Geert Hofstede administered a questionnaire to the employees of IBM in 66 countries. From participant answers, Hofstede then ranked the countries from most individualist to least (or most collectivist), according to the following general definitions:

Individualism pertains to societies in which the ties between individuals are loose; everyone is expected to look after himself or herself and his or her immediate family.

Collectivism pertains to societies in which people from birth onwards are integrated into strong, cohesive groups, which throughout people s lifetime continue to protect them in exchange for unquestioning loyalty. (1991, 51)

The United States ranked number one, the most individualist of all societies.

It s no accident that the cowboy was for so long the most popular icon of American culture, for the cowboy is the personification of the self-reliant individualist. He lives beyond the effective reach of society and has no ties ” no house, no possessions, no family or friends (though he is very fond of his horse) ” nothing that circumscribes or otherwise limits his freedom. He interacts with society (the community) by choice, always on his own terms, and only for short periods, moving on, significantly, whenever other people start to expect things from him. As psychologists would put it, cowboys have commitment issues.

It should be noted that while cowboy virtues may appeal to individualist, self-reliant Americans, they re not nearly as attractive to the rest of the world. In many ways the cowboy stereotype personifies precisely what rubs most non-Americans the wrong way about people from the United States. Cowboys tend to be blunt, undisciplined, and reckless. They shoot from the hip, for example, saying whatever they think to whomever they please and letting the consequences be damned . They have a take-it-or-leave-it attitude, aren t interested in compromise, and ride roughshod over objections, complaints, or opposition . They re rough and uncivilized, lacking in manners, social skills, and polish. The cowboy may indeed personify much that is American about America, but that s not always a good thing.