TRAMES 1/2, 3, 1999
Luule Kants and Anu Realo. Meta-level collectivism in Estonia and Finland
University of Tartu
Abstract
During recent years, a fascinating question has appeared at the crossroads
of data and theory in the study of individualism and collectivism: could
it really be that Estonians, in a number of ways so close to the relatively
individualistic Finns, are in fact the embodiments of conservative collectivism,
as it has been implied in prominent cross-cultural writings (e.g., Schwartz
1994)? This study strove to find an answer to this question with a somewhat
unorthodox method. First, Estonian, Finnish, and Russian (residing in Estonia)
respondents answered to the Collectivism Scale (Realo and Allik, in press)
items, getting scores on collectivism. The results showed no significant
differences in the general collectivism scores for the Estonian and Finnish
respondents and a remarkably and significantly higher collectivism score
for the Russian sample. After that, the participants were asked to complete
the Meta-Collectivism Scale by ranking their own and nine other nations
along ten collectivistic statements. Among ten target nations, the Estonians
were ranked rather low on collectivism - judges from three nations placed
the Estonians on the seventh position between the Russians (the fourth
position) and Finns (the tenth position). Thus, the results of the present
study suggest abandoning the idea of Estonia as a landmark of collectivism.
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