MAINTAINING CULTURAL COHERENCE IN THE MIDST OF CULTURAL-DIVERSITY - REPLY TO CULTURE, SELF, AND DEVELOPMENT - ARE CULTURAL TEMPLATES USEFULOR STEREOTYPIC

The individualism, collectivism, independence, and interdependence con structs are commonly used in considerations of culture and development , and this reply attempts to clarify a reconceptualization of these co nstructs. This reconceptualization represents a departure from traditi onal conceptualizations of individualism and collectivism in relation to independence and interdependence, and it also represents a move awa y from understanding these constructs in dichotomous, stereotypical, a nd unidimensional terms. Focusing on individualism, independence, and interdependence, the implications of the current perspective for the i ssue of stereotyping cultures and individuals and for the issue of the complexities of self-development are discussed. In considering the in terrelations between cultural value systems and individual constructiv e activities, some reflections on the simultaneous organization and dy namism of human cultural processes are also offered. (C) 1997 Academic Press.