Social loafing refers to the occurrence of the people becoming less productive in groups as opposed to individuals. In most cases, the group members look up on each other thereby becoming unproductive. Nonetheless, there are different factors that contribute to social loafing, for instances, the culture. Most people adhere and uphold their cultures. According to Shiraev, & Levy (2001), if ones’ culture advocates communism then it is less likely that an individual will practice social phenomenon and vice versa. Therefore, social loafing greatly depends on the people’s culture because it dictates on what people should do and what to avoid.
The western countries are more likely to engage in social loafing. Most of the western countries hail for the capitalist economy hence discouraging communism. The capitalist economy encourages social loafing because the citizenry are more concerned with the individual achievements. Therefore, the people yearn to amass more wealth because wealth comes with a higher social class in the society (Shiraev, & Levy, 2001). The high social status also widens the gap between the rich and the poor thereby making it impossible to work together. The poor usually work in the farms of the rich, but end up getting meager salaries. The gap has increased the social loafing because the rich usually think that working with the poor will only slow down their economic progress.
The non-western countries also associate the westerners with power hunger. Therefore, the non-western countries usually come together in order to fight a common enemy, which is the western countries. As a result, the coming together to fight the colonialism alleviated the social loafing among the citizenry. Their problems brought them together hence joined hands because unity is strength. In addition, the people had less powers and ability to drive the westerners from their nations. For this reason, it became necessary to pull the resources together in order to emerge successful.
Nonetheless, the western countries embrace communism thus making social works inevitable. Some governments went ahead to form villages that would enhance communism in the country. For instance, the Tanzanian government in Africa formed the ujamaa villages forcing everyone to work in groups to improve their living standards. Encouraging socialism in a country eradicates the social loafing because the success of the group depends on the efforts of the members. The lack of resources in the non-western countries necessitates them to work together for developmental purposes in the regions. On the other hand, most of the countries in the western enjoy massive developments and infrastructure making it unnecessary for them to work in groups (Shiraev & Levy, 2001).
The western countries are concerned with gaining control in the other countries in order to grow the economy. As a result, they develop the self-interest because the increased dependency by the other nations determines the economic welfare of the country. According to Shiraev & Levy (2001), existence of the diverse cultures in the western countries makes it hard to relate well with the others. Therefore, social loafing develops due to the intolerance of the cultures. On the other hand, similar cultures alleviate chances of the occurrence of social loafing because the people understand each other. Therefore, it becomes easy to peacefully coexist thereby working together in groups.
In summation, people have different attitudes concerning groups. Nonetheless, the cultures of communism and capitalism dictate the extent of development of social loafing among the people. Due to the adoption of capitalism in the western countries, the citizenry end up disregarding the need to work in groups with the same effort one would work in an individual task. Therefore, the individuals from the western countries are more likely to participate in social loafing than those in the non-western countries.
References
Shiraev, E., & Levy, D. A. (2001). Introduction to cross-cultural psychology: Critical thinking
and contemporary applications. Boston [u.a.: Allyn and Bacon.
