Having worked with communities in egalitarian countries, I was of the opinion that a culture that suppresses expressions of the individual is no good breeding ground for creativity. People who stick out in any way are considered abnormal. My theory seemed to be proven by the remarkable lack of absence of creativity – there are no people craving to express themselves through writing/painting/carving/younameit. However, for all I know, such societies have been in existence for quite some time and, going back in history there ARE signs for creativity – old songs, old myths, reliefs, buildings, weaving patterns (cloth, grass, bamboo, bark)… Of course one cannot be sure whether those societies had, at the time when those acts of creativity were produced/invented, the same approach as they have now. I would say they had. What is your opinion? Is there a connection between individualisation and creativity?
Yes. The only question that I can propose is: does it really matter that we express ourselves as individuals? In America, everyone has an opinion. Most people aren't remotely correct, but they must be heard. In Stalinist Russia, one wouldn't dare speak out against the government for fear of being killed or tortured. Of course, feeling that you are important as a person and not a group does lend a certain confidence, but both groups of people die before 100 years. It really doesn't matter.
I don't think individualism and creativity are linked as much as it seems. For example, the Japanese culture highly values conformity, but I have seen some of the most beautiful, original artwork from Japanse artists.
Sparkle, I would venture to say you are correct, but would add that there are a number of other factors at work. For instance in a US capitalist structure, despite very little overt contol of individualization, people tend to be creatively repressed. The people's creative energy tends to get put into things like assembly lines and (a step up?) advertising. This is the nature of the capitalist system. Take a horticultural African society though, which may repress individualization, but every used item becomes a piece of artwork (pots, huts, blankets).
@ valentino I am not sure whether the Japanese society is really egalitarian. Yes, it values conformity, but doesn’t this apply to conformity within one’s social class only (and not across all)? The Japanese society you probably mean is already specialized. There are the blacksmiths, there are the gardeners, there are warriors and there seems to have been pride to excel existing in all those classes. Please correct me if I am wrong, it’s not my field. Anyway, could also be I was too vague in my initial posting. I have often to work with societies that are artificially repressed (in what elsewhere is known as “post-socialism”). At the same time, being in developing countries, those societies are NOT yet specialized. Some ethnic groups haven’t even specialized tasks for women and men (women plough their fields to the same extent as do the men, while you can see men carrying babies on their hips when walking through the villages). Everyone can do some blacksmith-work. Everyone does farming. When it comes to art-work, a quick cement relief or statue suffices… That made me think. @Xenu, What do you mean of me being correct, I am divided in my own opinion, ggg. I want to say that I disagree with your view of every hut or blanket becoming a piece of artwork. That how it SHOULD be seen, but, according to my experience, it’s not the rule. More often than not, a ramshackle-hut is enough, because it is going to be destroyed anyway during the next thunderstorm. Instead of artwork pieces of weaving, now a cheap cotton-sarong will do. Chinese screaming pink buckets have almost everywhere replaced the traditional dung-insulated baskets/buckets. I have been to villages where there is nobody allowed to build a house bigger than the neighbour (as measured in amount of pillars, size of walls, and height). This would be an offence to the community. Interesting you view on American Society. Brought me to start brooding about the relation between “Wanting to be different” and creativity. It’s not the same, isn’t it? And: what are those other factors you mention? Industrialization? Californication? sparklePlease Register or Log in to view the hidden image!
