Individualism Vs Collectivism

This is a nice article about the "Individual values" of the Western society and "collective values" of eastern society.
Western societies are more rich and prosperous and emphasize more on "individual values and privacy and rights" on the other hand Eastern societies emphasize more on group effort.

Read the full story in

http://www.nytimes.com--

HERE

clipped from http://www.nytimes.com/2008/08/12/opinion/12brooks.html?em one of the most striking is the divide between the societies with an individualist mentality and the ones with a collectivist mentality. Americans are more likely to see categories. Asians are more likely to see relationships. You can create a global continuum with the most individualistic societies — like the United States or Britain — on one end, and the most collectivist societies — like China or Japan — on the other. The individualistic countries tend to put rights and privacy first Either way, individualistic societies have tended to do better economically. But what happens if collectivist societies snap out of their economic stagnation? A new sort of global conversation develops. The rise of China isn’t only an economic event. It’s a cultural one. The ideal of a harmonious collective may turn out to be as attractive as the ideal of the American Dream. It’s certainly a useful ideology for aspiring autocrats.