I keep hearing these terms but googling just provides vague generalizations making me believe there’s barely a divide between these two.
Can someone explain the core of the matter please?
Like, why would east Asian countries NOT be individualistic?
In: 7
There’s no ELI5 version of this, because there’s no one way of looking at this. Societies are very complex things, and these terms are beginning to mean different things to different people, and all societies have elements of both. On top of that, everyone has elements of one category or the other that’s become just invisible so much they’re taken for granted without anyone ever thinking about it, so everytime we compare another society to ours, we only compare a few custums, laws or parts of their system to ours, not the whole thing.
A nation can also be socially collectivist and economically individualistic. Or the laws might be individualistic capitalism and the people act more like a tight knit community. Or they could be individualistic with their taxation and reduced social net, but then again be filled with people who do tons of volunteer work and donations.
America is supposedly very capitalist and individualist, worshiping billionaires. Yet, you subsidize losses of companies all the times, you have collectivist Home Owner Associations (HOAs) everywhere. Everyone balks at their taxes being used for universal program, yet they give more to charity on average than most industrialized nations.
Most Asian nations have low tax rates, low social nets, more of a “everyone for themselves” vision of work and prosperity, yet families stick together even more radically than anywhere else. In Korea and Japan people are expected to work 60-80h a week to better themselves or be labeled bums or a disappointment, with everyone competing so hard for every promotion you’d think they’re insane. Yet when a natural disaster strikes, the few with homes still standing volunteer to house as many as possible without being asked, and everyone lines up in an orderly fashion to receive disaster relief aid with very minimal crime, looting or incivility.
A separated pair of social and economic spectrums would probably be a better tool for this, but people can’t resist the allure of a simple metric that confirms or denies their opinion quickly without effort or nuances.
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