Individualism

The exploration of white supremacy characteristics continues with individualism. I’ve been thinking about this one for a while since reading How the South won the Civil War by Heather Cox Richardson. Individualism, Manifest Destiny, and American Exceptionalism seem to have been a long standing narrative in American History and the media (from books to movies). In the book, she maps out the influence of the narrative of the strong, independent, hard working American that manifests success against all odds.

Think about the number of times that you heard the saying, “pull yourself up by your bootstraps”, “Work hard. Push yourself, because no one else is going to do it for you”, “Success doesn’t just find you. You have to go out and get it”, or “There is no substitute for hard work”. I’ve heard over and over again that these are motivational quotes. I’ve been rewarded for working long hours and pouring myself into the job. I’m sure you are quite familiar with these stories. Are you familiar with the connect to white supremacy and what it looks like?

Individualism shows up as:

• for white people: seeing yourselves and/or demanding to be seen as an individual and not as part of the white group;
• failure to acknowledge any of the ways dominant identities — gender, class, sexuality, religion, able-bodiedness, age, education to name a few — are informed by belonging to a dominant group that shapes cultural norms and behavior;
• for BIPOC people: individualism forces the classic double bind when BIPOC people are accused of not being “team players” — in other words, punishment or repercussions for acting as an individual if and when doing so “threatens” the team;
• for white people: a culturally supported focus on determining whether an individual is racist or not while ignoring cultural, institutional, and systemic racism; the strongly felt need by many, if not most white people to claim they are “not racist” while their conditioning into racism is relentless and unavoidable;
• for white people: a belief that you are responsible for and are qualified to solve problems on your own;
• for BIPOC people: being blamed and shamed for acting to solve problems without checking in and asking for permission from white people;
• little experience or comfort working as part of a team, which includes both failure to acknowledge the genius or creativity of others on the team and a willingness to sacrifice democratic and collaborative process in favor of efficiency; see double bind for BIPOC people above;
• desire for individual recognition and credit; failure to acknowledge how what we know is informed by so many others;
• isolation and loneliness;
• valuing competition more highly than cooperation; where collaboration is valued, little time or resources are devoted to developing skills in how to collaborate and cooperate;
• accountability, if any, goes up and down, not sideways to peers or to those the organization is set up to serve;
• a lack of accountability, as the organization values those who can get things done on their own without needing supervision or guidance, unless and until doing things on “our” own threatens power;
• very connected to “one right way,” “perfectionism,” “qualified,” and “defensiveness and denial.”

Self-reflection

a. What does this look like when you act with individualism?

I pretty much think I am a super hero when I am deep in individualism mode. I will have a deep focus on my results. The contribution from others looks smaller to me and if I don’t get the praise I’m expecting I view people as ungrateful.

b. What feelings do you have when you act with individualism?

If I’m perfectly honesty, I have a fear of abandonment and a sense of loneliness whenever I’m focused on my individualism. There are times when it feels good to accomplish things, but it feels hollow if I’m not sharing the accomplishment with others.

c. What policies and/or practices does your work/organization reinforce or encourage individualism?

We have constant conversations about promotions and pay at work and how it looks tired to overworking and sacrificing your family for work. That is backed up by the reality that people have gotten discretion pay (aka temporary pay upgrades) and promotions after being noticed and rewarded for working long hours and getting noticed for the extra time. This also shows up in the performance evaluation system, where the top rating is literally doing above and beyond your job for not extra pay.

d. What actions can you take to go from individualism to community?

When I am in this mentality, I find it best to pause and consider who and what I might not be appreciating enough. I, also, start to consider what decisions do I needs made and who needs to be involved. With a focus back on team and community, I can make sure that I do everything I can to ensure those impacted by any decision are part of the decision making process and we make sure that we can decrease the possible disparity in the impact of the decisions.

e. What benefits do you think you would get from applying more of the replacement characteristics?

Being a public servant, I get a lot of satisfaction when my job works to positively impact the community and support people with our collective needs.

Action Plan Statement

From now on when I feel the urge to act with individualism, I will work towards appreciating others and including them in the decision making process because it provides me with satisfaction in working with the community and the potential of fewer disparities. I will also support my work/organization individualism by addressing an over-emphasis on over-working. When I do act with individualism, I will give myself some grace, acknowledge the impact I had on others, and engage in repair work by check-in those impacted and doing my work to understand my behaviors.