UPDATED 7TH JANUARY 2022

Introduction

According to the Oxford English Dictionary, the word “culture” in the English language is used in a variety of ways to define human actions in various spheres of their life.  It lists some, including, arts, customs, institutions and groups.

When born, most of the human species naturally have their five senses of; touch, sight, smell, taste and sound.  Their bodies also learn how to consume what in the English language is referred to generally as “air” and “nutrients”, and convert them to energy for various uses that benefit the body’s survival, while still in the womb, a lesson which will also benefit the body’s survival once out of the womb.

However, once out of the womb, a human begins the process of learning the cultures currently used by living humans, to interpret what they perceive via their five senses.

These learned interpretations, also known as “thought processes” are what determine human action/reaction.

Prof. Frank Karue Ngarua defines culture as standardized ways that people choose to act or react, given various life scenarios. Their standardized reactions or actions originate from taught thought processes on various life scenarios, which form the knowledge base, to-date, on how to act or react to the various life scenarios presented to them at any given point in time.

Based on usage, he categorizes cultures into three main types; individual cultures (e.g. what time you choose to regularly go to sleep or wake-up), group or community adopted cultures (e.g. self-sustenance farming, trading in goods and services, marriage, circumcision, symbolic rituals, traditions, language, etc.), and popular cultures (e.g. social media usage).

Based on characteristics, he categorizes cultures into two main types; “collectivist” and “individualistic”. “Collectivist” cultures give priority to the needs of the collective society over the needs of the individual, while “individualistic” cultures do the opposite.

Chapter 1 – Prof. Ngarua’s research findings

Prof. Ngarua’s research shows that historically, “collectivist” cultures produce “dependents” and “conformists”, who spend large amounts of their time on destructive distractions, in an attempt to escape their toxic reality, and favour subjective over objective decision making processes.

Subjective decision making processes promote corruption, discrimination and harassment, however, they make “collectivist” cultures seem attractive to many, as an alternative lazy and easy method for accessing economic opportunities.

By default, all living organisms on earth require freedom and independence, freely provided in the natural/natures environment for survival and a good quality life experience. This is especially true for living organisms whose survival’s competitive edge is based on their independent thinking capacity, something especially true of the human species. These “collectivist” cultures have a significant negative impact on the quality of life of the human individual and those around them. It, however, creates business opportunities for collectivist organizations/institutions, increasing their revenues and profits.

Strong evidence that the human species is naturally “individualistic”, culturally, is on display in the innovations from the human mind, which as I mention above is the species survival competitive edge. From innovations such as the Ox-plow, to the automatic machine gun and today’s robotic automation, the focus is on empowering and enabling the individual to do what previously required a collective effort, all by themselves, thus avoiding the need for others.

This points to the human having a natural affinity to be Self-reliant and Self-sustaining. The words “life” or “living organisms” is only used to describe organisms that have a body with the capacity to self-sustain by directly consuming natural resources and converting them into energy for use in a way of their choosing. It may soon be possible for an individual to own, maintain and manage a large manufacturing plant without the need for other people using Automation and Information Technology! In the sphere of personal relations or interactions between humans, robots and other man-made alternatives are increasingly taking the place of humans in the lives of many individuals.

Chapter 2 – How a trade based economy promotes collectivist cultures

Trading in goods and services, as a means of survival, is collectivist culturally.  It takes two to trade, and two is the smallest collective unit.  In today’s world, most people solely rely on trade to provide for their survival needs. The vast majority only have their labour skills to trade with, in exchange for currencies owned by dominant monopolistic institutions. They hope they will be able to convert these currencies into food, shelter, clothing, etc., when needed, which their bodies require for survival.  Most people today, therefore, have adopted collectivist cultures to survive.

In a society that is less dependent on the trade economy, e.g. a self-sustenance farming, hunter gatherer, or nomadic based economy, there is less of a need to adopt collectivist cultures, and individualistic cultures are less inhibited.

Furthermore, culture determines what we value, and in a trade based economy, what we value is what we trade (buy and sell). The owners and managers of today’s dominant monopolistic institutions are aware that “collectivist” cultures create the need for intermediary institutions and the resulting demand for their goods and services, increasing their revenues and profits.  Prof. Ngarua has discussed, in detail, how this has been successfully implemented by the institutions in his two ground breaking books, “The Culture Wars – Globalists Vs Nationalist” and “The Employment Illusion”.

Many people self-identify with groups that adopt and promote certain cultures. These groups can be based on ideology (i.e. a set or system of ideas) or what I call “packaged thoughts” (e.g. religion, liberalism, conservatism, libertarian-ism, feminism, etc.), ethnicity, gender, etc. Association or self-identifying with these groups creates pressure on individuals to conform to the adopted and promoted cultures which can be “collectivist” or “individualistic” based on their characteristics. Once again, depending on the quantitative ratio between the two types of cultures, the results on group decision making are in line with my above research findings. By analysing the popular stories, songs, teachings, sayings, common language phrases/words, etc., one can determine if a group has more of an emphasis on “individualistic” or “collective” cultures.

The “collectivist” culture can be seen on display, even in countries like the U.S., where free-markets and competition were the back-bone of the country’s economic success. It is now common to hear businesses referring to those formerly known as customers as “members”, with an increasing number demanding a “membership fee” to shop at the business (e.g. the popular Costco stores).

Many people now talk of “supporting businesses” when they purchase goods and services, ignoring the concept of “competitive markets”, corporate strategies are now monopolistic in character, avoiding fair competition at all costs and governments now regularly bail out businesses deemed too big to fail! In the labour market, the methodology of “networking for jobs” is now widely accepted by many, as a legitimate way to access employment opportunities despite its subjective nature. The collectivist culture is now dominant in “western” countries that previously championed individual freedoms and competitive markets. 

This wide acceptance of collectivist cultures, has naturally spilled into relationships between human beings.  The dominant monopolistic institutions today, worldwide, also now regulate what were formerly “private” relationships between individuals (e.g. “marriage”, “family”, etc.), which together with the learned collectivist cultures, have made these relationships toxic for many.

Chapter 3 – Trade economy intermediary organisations

Prof. Ngarua’s research further shows that, in societies where “collectivist” cultures are dominant within the population, they create increased demand for intrusive intermediary organisations (also widely referred to as “Institutions”), that intervene in increasingly more areas of an individual’s life.  This also, “incidentally”, helps create increasing revenues and profits for the institutions!

Collectivist cultures are the cornerstone of all “socialist” and “communist” organizations/societies. Whereas, individualistic societies will demand limited and only when necessary intermediary organisations, collectivist societies demand the opposite.

Historically, collectivist societies always end in a collapse; of the intrusive organisations, as well as the forced/coerced collective cooperation that exists between individuals, which is the basis of a collectivist society (i.e. the collapse of the society).

Prof. Ngarua has labelled organisations formed by a group of individual stakeholders, to perform tasks that are better done as a group instead of individually (e.g. governments, religious organisations, etc.), as well as trading entities (e.g. corporations) as “intermediary organisations”.  My research shows that, historically, these organisation have only been sustainable in the long term when they have the following culture;

• objective decision making processes
• are limited to specific  in-demand tasks, goods and services
• operate in a decentralized competitive environment
• are not the main source of survival resources for those that own, manage and/or administer them.

An overwhelming majority of the intermediary organisations operating today fail this simple test, and are therefore not sustainable, and will fail, sooner or later.

Furthermore, my research shows that historically, in societies where “collectivist” cultures are dominant within the population, it creates increased demand for intrusive intermediary organisations/institutions that intervene in increasingly more areas of an individual’s life.

Many of the intermediary organisations/institutions, today, are not in business in order to provide a better quality good or service to the individual, than they would be able to provide for themselves via a self-sustenance based economy, but instead they are in business in order to give a small group of “elites” a wealth advantage.

Societies where “collectivist” cultures dominate have always failed, many a time coming to an end violently.

Copyright © 2022 by Frank Karue Ngarua

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