Whats the deal with individualism and collectivism? Why have some countries like Russia been collectivist for so long while some Western European had more or less individualistic tendencies since years started counting up instead of down? Is this some sort of deep rooted cultural thing or does it have to do with economic/geographic conditions?
Paper somewhat related, it briefly touches the difference between Medieval English serfdom and nineteenth century Russian serfdom.
http://www.campop.geog.cam.ac.uk/events/richardsmithconference/papers/Dennison.pdf
The general trend suggesting like so many other indicators it all comes down to economic development with the cream of cultural factors that influence it to a degree.
In this case the main importante is level of urbanization, as urban life shifts values towards individualism while rural life towards collective one.
>>285134
Well western Europe between 0-1000 AD was quite rural yet they seem individualistic don't they? Everything from Ancient Germanics to Carolingian freemen
Of course it's cultural.
>>285134
You materialistic shitbags should read some Dostievsky.
>>285116
individualism is terrorism as it goes against core human instinct to coalesce, a nation wrecking engine of destruction that also serves capitalism by helping individuals feel unique just like everyone else
>>285378
I am currently reading Crime and Punishment.
It's inbreeding.
>>285116
>Collectivism vs. individualism
No such thing as a black or white, every economy is a bit of both.
If you tried to do one or the other it just wouldn't work.
>>285415
fucking inbred bongs BTFO
Maybe you were looking for an "Egoist society"?
>>285146
I don't think those examples reflect what we understand as individualism. Those peoples life were still centered around the family unit an small closely knit communities. But feel free to expand on it, maybe we just disagree on definitions.
>>285378
I don't say culture is irrevelant.
Actually my line of thought comes from observation of eastern block societies (as I also live in one), with their lagged development then sudden forced changes by communist regimes, the same time there was a shift towards individualism, and the explanation here is purely economical.
>>285415
Those gradients are a joke.
>>285456
Spooks b gone.
Something I've noticed re: individualism & collectivism... is how the various 'identity' political persuasions (and I make no moral judgement of them and have been involved/immersed in them, so no ">/pol/" please) have cleverly used abstract symbols of the individual to grow collectives.
They're fundamentally based on intractible properties (skin colour, sex, sexual orientation) which can be identified and accepted in the self. And this makes them curiously global in nature
It's almost as though this is how you change an individualist culture into a collectivist one- by representing the self as a collective... or maybe collectivism always coexists with individualism (perhaps as a means of reducing complexity and classifying individuals into comprehensible categories and roles - perhaps as a necessary inversion which exists for the same reason that "small" implies the existence of "big" - perhaps because an understanding of demographics required by governments/business/media cannot talk about entire populations solely using the abstraction of the individual... as opposed to higher level concepts and abstract collectives involving the trends among larger numbers of people).
>>285116
Because you anachronistically project your personal ideology onto the documentary record of the past. It is called eisegesis. It is a major error in reading. Don't do it.
