We’ve recently been hearing about friends and colleagues leaving America due to struggles to form deep social connections and their perception of self-centeredness in America vs. where they want to move to. We took this as inspiration to talk about individualist and collectivist societies. 

Individualistic cultures emphasize the individual and his/her/their goals, happiness and achievements. Collectivistic cultures focus on group goals, a group’s well-being and relationships. Both of us were raised with both collectivist (Indian) and individualist (American) cultures. We talk about the pros and cons of each and our experiences to find our balance between the two through examples. 

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