I'm not sure it is universal, though it is certainly widespread in the US and Europe. I was at dinner the other day with a friend who was born & raised in Asia

I'm not sure it is universal, though it is certainly widespread in the US and Europe. I was at dinner the other day with a friend who was born & raised in Asia and she argued that the romanticized view of village life is far less prevalent in Asia, where it is less a sign of morals and family values and more a sign of abject poverty and lack of education. I'm not sure I buy her argument but I thought it was interesting that her reaction to having lived in America for a year and seeing these issues up close was, "We're used to it in Asia but they're not used to it in America so they get very upset that that's how the world works now."