ABSTRACT
Individualism vs. Collectivism (IDV) is probably the most powerful of the cultural dimensions, with the most deeply rooted values, and the strongest of influences. One of the greatest cultural misconceptions of our time is associating collectivism with communist political systems that ignores the wellbeing of the individual. The relationship between geographical location and lower IDV is less evident and has similar reasoning to those of the origins of power distance. Members of a social group in an individualistic society can come and go according to their needs, desires and availability. A suggestion that higher IDV leads to a wealthier nation is met with the empirical contradiction that lower IDV leads to stronger economical growth. Communism shares many values with collectivism and almost all communist nations are highly collective. The structure of representative governments and their laws and regulations are strongly influenced by the national and regional IDV values.
