Ladonna Unruh Individualism Case Study

An example used by Unruh (2004, p. 292) was Ladonna, who was a ballerina until she started to suffer from chronic pain. The loss of career was painful to her because she used it to define who she was as a person (p. 292). As a ballerina, she knew where her place was in the world and had a sense of belonging (p. 292). She felt lost without her career until she realised her gift was not dancing, but conveying emotion (p. 292). She knew that she had lost a career but not who she was as a person, but it was important for her to find a way to still be involved with who she had been as a dancer while using her gifts (p. 292). After her career ended, Ladonna had to change her identity, which took considerable time, through recognising opportunities …show more content…
385) suggests there are seven major domains for individualism, which are goals, independence, uniqueness, private, competition, self-knowing, private, and direct communication. Individualism cultures favour independence, unique personal attitude and opinions, self-fulfilment, behaviour independence within groups, detachment from others, and operating according to personal choices (Shulruf, et al., 2007, p. 385). People within this culture are more likely to prioritise themselves, as well as enhancing their self-esteem and consider themselves as unique compared to others (Shulruf, et al., 2007, p. 385). Shulruf (2007, p. 385) explains there are eight major areas of collectivism, which are belonging, relatedness, harmony, duty, context dependent, advice seeking group, and hierarchical. People within collectivism cultures identify themselves by the groups they belong to and prioritise the goals and values of the group (Shulruf, et al., 2007, p. 386). They have a sense of belonging to a group’s interdependence with group members. They prioritise their place within the group, maintenance of social status, and avoiding conflict (Shulruf, et al., 2007, p. 386). Hierarchy in both cultures is very different, individualism cultures see it as a competition to rise higher than others while collectivism cultures see it as a reference of their position within the group (Shulruf, et al., 2007, p. 386). With this information, it is possible that while particular …show more content…
In other societies and earlier in western societies, identity was closely related to groups rather than individualism. In modern society, the lines between work and rest are being blurred, whereas people used to work merely to survive. Now people use careers, family, and hobbies to show their uniqueness. Considering the amount of time spent at work in modern society, it is impossible for occupations to not to have a significant part in developing