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tory of the efforts to prove the superiority of the mode of production of free capitalism. Ronald Reagan tried to preach the “equal opportunity” theory advocated by President Hoover, and this concept of equality was one of the values in individualism believed by Americans. It is clear that Ronald Reagan tried to recover the principle of individualism as the core of the American culture.

2.1.5 The Formation of Individualism in the New Era

Individualism after 1990s clearly carried some features of ration. After the end of the cold war, especially after the collapse of the Soviet Union, the United States had less pressure to fight with Soviet for the supremacy so that it had more time to deal with its internal affairs, but increasingly serious social problems had accumulated too much to be solved, such as poverty in affluence, juvenile delinquency, violence, old age loneliness, homosexuality, drug addicts, unwed mothers, divorce rates and so on. On the one hand, Americans were in full enjoyment of material civilization; but on the other hand, they experienced the indifference and numbness among people. Lots of people began to reflect on their cultural value of individualism and some even proposed to find a solution to the problem from the Oriental culture. American scholars did in-depth researches in this field. Contemporary sociologists in their works pointed out that: individuals and society are mutually needed instead of against each other; we rely on others in our own independence; healthy and mature independence acknowledges healthy, mature and dependent independence; absolute independence is only an illusion Individualism is the core of the American idea. We don’t mean that we should give up individualism, which means giving up our deepest national characters. But with the increasing of the contents and contradictions of individualism, it is necessary to criticize it in order to defend it, especially criticize those trends which will destroy it internally. Therefore, American individualism is not out of date, for it has the potential to develop together with the development of human beings.  

Therefore, American individualism changes with time, but no matter how it changes, the core will not change: everyone has the right to choose his life path. Self -motivated, self-conscious, and self-conceit are the essence of individualism.

2.2 The Concept of Individualism and the Chinese Individualism

Previously the American individualism had been translated into “individualism” (now they’re also translated like this), but in fact it is different from the Chinese “individualism”. “Individualism” from the Chinese perspective is a derogatory word. The connotation of the English individualism is positive, and various dictionaries have different definitions. Even though the definitions vary from each other, its contents are all consistent. The definition in the New World Dictionary is: the leading of one’s life in one’s own way without regard for others; individual character; individuality; an individual peculiarity; the doctrine that the state exists for the individual and not the individual for the state. The definition in the New Collegiate Dictionary is: a doctrine that the interests of the individual are or ought to be ethically paramount; the conception that all values, rights and duties or ignite in individuals; individuality; an individual peculiarity; idiosyncr本论文由英语论文网提供整理，提供论文代写，英语论文代写，代写论文，代写英语论文，代写留学生论文，代写英文论文，留学生论文代写相关核心关键词搜索。