| Since Hofstede(1980)first explored the cross cultural field,more and more researchers have attached importance to the study of individualism and collectivism.Hofstede(1980)emphasizes that individualism and collectivism are two extreme forms.However,Triandis(1995)argues that individualism and collectivism can not only exist within one culture,they also can operate in one individual.China is considered as a collective country(Hofstede,1980).But under the influence of the globalization,Chinese people’s behaviors are found to differ from traditional description concerning the orientation of individualism and collectivism.This thesis aimed to investigate the current situation of the college students’ cultural dimensions of individualism and collectivism.On the basis of Traindis’ Typology of individualism and collectivism,we adopted the questionnaire designed by Singelis and his colleagues(1995).The questionnaire consisted of 28 items in four dimensions: horizontal individualism(HI),vertical individualism(VI),horizontal collectivism(HC)and vertical collectivism(VC).The participants were 247 juniors in a university in Jiangxi Province.In addition,we made an interview with 10 students to collect qualitative data for the investigation.The data from this study were analyzed by the SPSS Version 17.0.The major findings in the present study can be summarized as follows:1)It shows that 93.33% participants share the tendency of HC and 93.52% of them have the orientation of VC;80.57% of them share the tendency of HI and the fewest(44.13%)participants have the dimension of VI.The result matches well the previous conclusion addressed by Hofstede(1980)that China belongs to a collective country.It also matches well Triandis’(1995)theory of individualism and collectivism which emphasizes that individualism and collectivism can coexist within one person.2)The male students are more likely to have the tendencies of HI and VI than the female,indicating that male students are more individualistic than the female;3)English majors are more likely to have the tendencies of HI and VI,showing that English majors are more individualistic than non-English majors;4)The students in cities are more likely to have the orientations of HI and VI,and it reveals that the students in cities are more individualistic than those students in the countryside;5)The only child group is more likely to share the orientations of HI and VI,and the non-only child group is more likely to have the tendencies of HC and VC.Thus,the only child group is more individualistic than the non-only child group,and the non-only child group is more collectivistic than the only child group.According to the preceding findings,below are some practical implications.First and foremost,VI highlights the achievement orientation and motivates people to well survive in the fierce society.By comparisons within four sub-dimensions,the fewest participants operate the orientation of VI,so it is necessary to remind those students to cultivate their cultural orientation of VI and enhance them to pay attention to their cultural sensitivity.Second,the dominant cultural orientation of the participants is still collectivistic,who may tend to accept the work style of cooperation in their future work after their graduation.Thus,the very suggestion is given to the educators that the students be offered more activities and trained to cooperate with others,which is helpful for their future work.Last but not least,this study reshapes a new image of China to some extent.In order to avoid the misunderstanding of others,behaviors of the youngsters cannot be judged based on the traditional image. |
