Shared Space and the Paradox of Being an Individual in the Collective

From a national perspective, the United States leans toward individuality as strongly as countries lean on the Individual-Collective Scale. Countries like China, for example, have much more ingrained collectivist orientation.

One may argue that these orientations are a matter of stylistic preference and cannot be labeled good or bad. 

Afterall, there is a paradox at play. No citizen is 100% an individual without any connection to the collective as much as the mere fact that no citizen is 100% a member of the group without any individuality. All kinds of adversities emerge in the grey areas of these scales. You know what I mean if you’ve ever been frustrated by those people who tried to deplane out of order (individuality dominant). Or, if as a child in school you ever detested having to wear uniforms or attend structured assemblies (collective dominant). 

Over the years, I’ve tried to build a rule of thumb to help me navigate my individualistic bias as a member of the collective and here’s what I’ve come up with:

Generally, express your individualistic desire and motives with one caveat that says, “Would this still work if everyone in the collective did it?”

When it comes to starting businesses, wearing unique clothing, Tweeting whatever comes to mind, it still works if everyone else does it. Trying to deplane out of order or cutting traffic by driving on the shoulder? Not so much..