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ish philosopher, also the spokesman of traditional British philosophy where American individualism was ingrained in.
John Locke asserted that human beings as a certain kind of organisms in the universe was the basic unit of nature. In his book The Philosopher of Freedom, he held that selfhood was not constituted and cultivated in the political arena during the processes of socialization but is something inborn, static and natural, the essence of the structure of human being politically determined [3]. P190
The origin of American individualism can be traced back to the beginning years of its history, when first American immigrants came to the North American continent looking for better life and shaking off the yoke of European feudal tradition and the oppression from all kinds of powerful classes. It is determined that elements of anti-yoke and searching for freedom should be the American people’s character. This was the original explanation of American individualism. Concerning this, 本论文由英语论文网 www.51lunwen.org整理提供what American people are always proud of is the Declaration of Independence: “we hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their creator with certain inalienable rights, among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.” [4] P503
American individualism affected almost every aspect of American life. As the Chinese famous professor Li Qirong expounded in his lecture in the Central Normal University of China, individualism has seven reflections in American Culture:
1. Personal privacy
2. Self-Reliance
3. Self-expression
4. Independent thinking
5. Personal freedom
6. Independent determination
7. Personal equality
8. Free competition
9. Personal lifestyle [5] P90
There were many different understandings of individualism. Each has its own explanations. Thus when reviewing American individualism, it is very important to analyze both its advantages and disadvantages.

2. The Definition of Individualism

2.1 The definition of the social values
Value is an ideal, goal, regulation and yardstick people chose on their own to measure people’s daily behaviors and actions. But social value is the common cognition and criteria used to distinguish right from wrong with the function of evaluation. Social value, as a social conception, is the way a country or a nation shows its attitude or reaction to certain social phenomenon. Although the common recognition of a society is closely linked with a set of decrees or policies of a nation, social values is often considered as an outcome of many factors such as politics, economy, thought and ethic during the process of social development. Therefore, each nation has its own special criteria used to judge right and wrong, beauty and ugliness, good and evil, mercy and guilt.
Every society, every nation has its own ideal and the target to chase. If these ideals and targets are specified, they will evolve into social values. Once the social value is recognized by the public, it will take on two main functions.
(1) It clearly regulates all the members of the society what behavior is permitted and glorious, and what behavior is forbidden and condemned by people. In fact, it is the criteria used to keep people’s behaviors within bounds.
(2) It urges all the members of the society be in the pursuit of the ideal which clearly reflects in the social values, and contribute thei