Self-Esteem Research, Theory, and Practice Toward a Positive ...

74 SELF-ESTEEM RESEARCH, THEORY, AND PRACTICEresults appear as they do because, as a group, African-Americans tend toemphasize the role of the individual slightly more than Whites, who inturn, emphasize this quality more than the much more collectively orientedminorities. Although there may be some truth to the other explanationsin a particular time or place, they do not seem to be as efficient asthis one.CULTURAL ORIENTATION AND SELF-ESTEEMAlthough scarcely dealt with until recently, cross-cultural research onself-esteem is becoming more common. Like much cross-cultural work ingeneral, the dominant theme of this area as it applies to self-esteem concernscomparing individualistic cultures, or those that emphasize independenceand the role of the person in social life, and collectivisticcultures, which focus on interdependence and communal social structures(Pettijohn, 1998, p. 67). Recently, it has become reasonably clearthat there are at least two schools of thought on this issue and the supportfor one of them seems to outweigh the other.On one hand, there are those who maintain that a conception of selfesteembased on either competence or worthiness is a largely Westernphenomenon. For example, Hewitt (2002) saw self-esteem as a socialconstruction, something that arises out of contemporary culture to meetcontemporary needs, particularly in America. He maintained, forinstance, that even the phrase self-esteem is relatively new and then wenton to “deconstruct” it as a “linguistic space” that is created to help individualsmake sense out of emotional reactions that involve the self.Similarly, Crocker and Park pointed out that self-esteem, or at least pursuingit, is a “particularly American phenomenon, born of the nations’founding ideologies” (2004, p. 405), especially our emphasis on theimportance of the individual, the history of the Protestant ethic, and theidea of a meritocracy. Then, they compared this cultural orientation withthe Japanese culture’s emphasis on the group, an incremental or continuousapproach to personal improvement, and the importance of relationshipsrather than personal achievements. They concluded by supportingthe position that culture determines the importance of self-esteem.On the other hand, Tafarodi and Swann Jr. (1996) investigated theissue of the relationship between self-esteem and culture at some length.They also recognized the possibility that self-esteem may only be aWestern concept or phenomenon, which would mean that self-esteem isnot a basic human need. However, when they reviewed several studies onself-esteem in collectivistic cultures, such as Asian and Filipino society,it was found that when self-esteem is defined in terms of two factors