Massey1

Cameron, Massey
Mr. King
English 1
27 May 2016
Single Over Society
Freedom, individualism, authenticity, and being yourself so long as you dont hurt
anothers physical person or property: Sustained success comes only when you take whats
unique about you and figure out how to make it useful! (Marcus Buckingham). Marcus
Buckingham is saying that success comes from expressing the traits that make a person
themselves, one of the main concepts of Individualism. Individualism is the idea of thinking of
personal preferences and strengths to achieve something. Collectivism, on the other hand, is the
idea of thinking for others and compromising individual strengths to work as a group.
Individualistic societies revolve around the individual while collectivistic societies rely on
everyone working together as one. Individualism is more important than Collectivism because of
the ability Individualism has to thrive off of personal strengths, uniqueness, and how it is built
off of individuals that do not need their society to function.
Individualistic societies are based on individuals, all different people with different
capabilities that equal to a greater amount of diversity and ideas than societies based on the
group as whole. Many people transform themselves to the idealistic traits around them.
Humanity faces an identity crisis, (Stedman Graham). People placed in groups do not think of
themselves as individuals, rather they always try to classify themselves with others. Peer
pressure can also influence personalities in a more forceful way. The identity crisis occurs when
people try to fit in in many different places because they do not know where they belong. They

Massey2
end up quietly following along with whatever everyone else is doing. This ends up hurting the
society due to people refraining from expressing themselves because of the natural need to fit in
with a group. Members of a group also are more likely to alter opinions and characteristics of
themselves to keep the peace. As a result, people all think the same things. If everyone is
thinking alike, then someone isnt thinking, (George Patton). Those who always go with the
popular belief will end up relying on others for everything.
Individualism allows new ideas and successes to prosper through the possession of ones
identity by not having to rely on others to achieve these things. In The Most Dangerous Game
by Richard Connell, General Zaroff plays a game with anyone who comes to his island. This
game consists of him hunting the other opponent, the winner always being the person who
remains alive after, with the given time. When Rainsford comes to the island and is forced to
play the game, he did not have the experience Zaroff had. Zaroff tried using tactics that worked
on his previous opponents but ended up failing. The island, the way Zaroff trapped his victims,
and the game all worked together to create an allegory to the idea of Collectivism. This created a
feud between the individual and the society of all the pieces that worked together to create the
game. The individual is a single block while the society is hundreds of blocks stacked on top of
each other, relying on each other to not fall. Rainsford capitalized on his personal strengths and
ended up successful in the game without relying on another person or needing someone else to
assist him.
Despite the evidence against Collectivism, many people believe two heads are better than one
while working on something. Another belief is that, People get happiness not just from doing
things with others but from doing things with and for others, (AFS.org). However, those who
believe the society is more important fail to see the people compromising themselves to fit with

Massey3
the group. Imagine the argument between Collectivism and Individualism being a bike race, one
bike being ridden by one person, representing Individualism, and the other being a tandem
bicycle with many riders, representing collectivism. The tandem bicycle could have very skilled
cyclists but cannot pull everyone because of how many people there are, causing them to
compromise themselves for the group. If a cyclist on the tandem bicycle has to stop, everyone
has to stop. The solo rider can go as fast as they can without having other less skilled riders
weigh down the bike. It takes unique individuals to create a society, and without their
accomplishments the society will not be able to advance at the rate it should. Individuals are the
basic unit of life, (Craig Biddle). By being the basic unit of life, individuals build up and are
the key to success. Collectivism weighs down their basic unit, the individuals, and prevents
success.
Albert Einstein once said, The person who follows the crowd will usually go no further
than the crowd. The person who walks alone is likely to find himself in places no one has ever
seen before. Someone who does what everyone else does will not end up successful because
everyone is doing the same thing while someone who takes a risk and goes on their own will end
up successful because they did something no one else has done. Individualism prevents this
conformity and leads to more diversity, resulting in more success. Individualism also does not
hold anyone back from reaching their maximum potential. By encouraging Individualism, the
world will not only encourage people to express themselves without having to deal with the
feeling of conformity but they will also help create a world full of success and happiness.

Massey4
Bibliography
"Happiness in Collectivistic and Individualistic Societies |." N.p., n.d. Web. 27 May 2016.
Connell, Richard Edward. Variety. New York: Minton, Balch, 1925. Print.
Graham, Stedman. "Your Identity Matters." The Huffington Post. TheHuffingtonPost.com, n.d.
Web. 27 May 2016.