Collective and individualistic social identities : a comparative study of the Maltese and the Chinese communities in Malta

Abstract

The concept of self in identity has been a central concern of study in the history of social psychology. Cross-cultural comparisons in particular aimed at examining the differences between the interdependent self and the independent self in collective and individualistic cultures respectively. This quantitative study is set to compare the self embedded in social identities of the Chinese and Maltese communities in Malta. It employs the Twenty Statements Test to elicit the selves in the identities of the two groups. Data sampled was collected via the method of snowballing. Responses obtained were subjected to thematic analyses with the emergence of eight overarching themes. Parametric t-test was used to analyze each theme identified against the independent variable, nationality. No statistically significant differences were found, and the findings did not lend support to the distinction between individualist and collectivist selves that permeated the literature.