Consideration was given to a model of social dynamics controlled by successive collective decisions based on the threshold majority procedures. The current system state is characterized by the vector of participants’ capitals (utilities). At each step, the voters can either retain their status quo or accept the proposal which is a vector of the algebraic increments in the capitals of the partic...

Collectivism is a peoples’ tendency to think of themselves as parts of different collectives and subordinate their behavior to norms, duties, and obligations imposed by these collectives. The collectivistic attitudes influence, besides other social institutions, also the organizational behavior. The main goal of this study was to explore how three different types of collectivist attitudes (fami...

People need to understand why an instance of suffering occurred and what purpose it might have. One widespread account of suffering is a repressive suffering construal (RSC): interpreting suffering as occurring because people deviate from social norms and as having the purpose of reinforcing the social order. Based on the theorizing of Emile Durkheim and others, we propose that RSC is associate...

Multicellular eukaryotes can perform functions that exceed the possibilities of an individual cell. These functions emerge through interactions between differentiated cells that are precisely arranged in space. Bacteria also form multicellular collectives that consist of differentiated but genetically identical cells. How does the functionality of these collectives depend on the spatial arrange...

From Alexis de Tocqueville to Robert Bellah and Alan Wolfe, the many observers of the United States invariably call attention to its emphasis on individualism. In the popular culture of American television and movies, the autonomous individual stands out, whether as rebel against the system or as self-centered consumer of endless products, services, and other people. Then there are the advertis...

Agent-Based Modeling can contribute to the understanding of international trade processes. Models for the effects of culture and cultural differences on agent behavior are required for realistic agent-based simulation of international trade. This paper makes a step toward modeling of culture in agents. The focus is one of the five dimensions of culture according to Hofstede: individualism versu...

The paper engages with contemporary debates on individualism and collectivism and argues that there is no necessary relationship between individualised management techniques and an individualised orientation to work and refutes a deterministic shift to individualism. It attempts to redress the gap in empirical evidence identified by Madsen (1997) and Towers (1997) by drawing on evidence from a ...