Warning: Collectivistic Societies Are Often More Competitive. Not Less.

And two other aspects of collectivistic societies to consider

Photo by Markus Spiske on Unsplash

Tired of Western individualism?

You might be even more miserable in a collectivistic society.

Don’t get me wrong: humans need collectives. And you’re right that present-day America needs more collectivist spirit. But there’s a critical difference between belonging to a collective and belonging to a collectivistic society.

The great gift of an individualistic society is that you can choose your collectives. The same can’t be said for a collectivistic society. And that can cause some major problems.

Let me explain.

Many collectivistic societies are even more competitive than individualistic societies.

In a collectivistic society, everyone shares a common set of goals, determined by its leaders. There’s only one game in town. And if you can’t contribute to that game, you’re less valuable.

This can create intense competition among members of society.

I have roots in ultra-collectivistic East Asia. In China and Taiwan, kids are in school for as much as 15 hours a day…