More utilitarian and less rational? Social change and two types of individualism over the last 40 years in China

doi:10.3724/SP.J.1041.2024.00911

Abstract

Abstract: Individualism appears to have increased along with modernization and globalization, yet it is a great debate whether such a cultural shift fell in the value discrepancy between the independence-focused rational individualism and the interest-focused utilitarian individualism, especially in fast-changing societies like China.
Based on expert interview, self-report survey, and open-question analysis (pilot study), the pilot study established a reliable and valid dictionary of rational individualism and utilitarian individualism, finding that rational (vs. utilitarian) individualism prevailed in responses to questions about rational individualism, and vice versa.
Furthermore, based on word counting (Study 1) and word embedding (Study 2) analyses of Chinese version of Google Books Ngram (1980~2019), the present research was designed to test the effect of social change on rational individualism and utilitarian individualism. We hypothesized that (1) rational individualism decreased while utilitarian individualism increased from 1980 through 2019, and that (2) the semantic association between self and rational (vs. utilitarian) individualism decreased over the past 40 years. As expected, Study 1 revealed that the usage of rational individualism decreased, while that of utilitarian individualism increased over time; and via the single-target Word Embedding Association Test (WEAT), Study 2 revealed that the semantic similarity between the target words about self (e.g., I, self) and attribute words about rational (vs. utilitarian) individualism decreased over time.
Taken together, the results demonstrate the cultural shift of the increase in utilitarian individualism and decrease in rational individualism over the past 40 years in China, whereas both rational enlightenment and utilitarian expansion serve as psychological drives in the development of modern societies. It was suggested that the value discrepancy of rational and utilitarian individualism should be seriously concerned, and that further work is needed on multiple selves, cultural evolution, and psychological function of the two types of individualism.

Key words: individualism, utility, rationality, China, values

CLC Number:

B849: C91

WU Michael Shengtao, WANG Yuling, PENG Kaiping. (2024). More utilitarian and less rational? Social change and two types of individualism over the last 40 years in China. Acta Psychologica Sinica, 56(7), 911-925.

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