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A shorter version would be: Americans are generally individualist Protestant technologist capitalists. Like any other culture these defining traits bring inhere

by limist 16y ago

A shorter version would be: Americans are generally individualist Protestant technologist capitalists. Like any other culture these defining traits bring inherent strengths, and unavoidable weaknesses. On a different note, Does anyone know the author of this essay? I've seen it around at least as far back as the early 1990's, and it's good to see it still in use.

StudyAnimal 16y ago
Just curious about what weaknesses you have in mind?
- presidentender 16y ago
  Many regard the unequal distribution of wealth inherent in that system as a weakness.
- limist 16y ago
  Take any one of those four traits and consider its opposite, e.g. individualism vs. group/tribal orientation. Individualism confers strengths most Westerners know and prize: freedom of expression, of employment, some degree of class/social/geographical mobility, personal merit and meritocratic ideals, etc. Individualism also brings severe and frequently self-destructive liabilities/weaknesses: alienation, lack of trust, lack of social bonds and support networks - as evidenced by the high rates of broken families, mental illness (depression, anxiety), and substance abuse. Of course, a combination of traits brings strengths that are more than the sum of their parts, and concomitant weaknesses. For example, the US is a great market for consumer goods (and thus entrepreneurs), as individuals seek their own immediate gratification and the promise of salvation/transformation through buying something new - all while supposedly contributing to the greater economic welfare (there being few if any other widespread, concrete, social goals). But it is far from a given that this way of life is at all viable, even in the course of one human lifetime, never mind a few centuries. As some scholars put it, every society confronts (and creates) large collective problems; the US has consistently chosen individualist capitalist technologist solutions, and it remains to be seen whether that approach has a long-term future.

by limist 16y ago

StudyAnimal 16y ago

Just curious about what weaknesses you have in mind?

presidentender 16y ago
Many regard the unequal distribution of wealth inherent in that system as a weakness.
limist 16y ago
Take any one of those four traits and consider its opposite, e.g. individualism vs. group/tribal orientation. Individualism confers strengths most Westerners know and prize: freedom of expression, of employment, some degree of class/social/geographical mobility, personal merit and meritocratic ideals, etc. Individualism also brings severe and frequently self-destructive liabilities/weaknesses: alienation, lack of trust, lack of social bonds and support networks - as evidenced by the high rates of broken families, mental illness (depression, anxiety), and substance abuse. Of course, a combination of traits brings strengths that are more than the sum of their parts, and concomitant weaknesses. For example, the US is a great market for consumer goods (and thus entrepreneurs), as individuals seek their own immediate gratification and the promise of salvation/transformation through buying something new - all while supposedly contributing to the greater economic welfare (there being few if any other widespread, concrete, social goals). But it is far from a given that this way of life is at all viable, even in the course of one human lifetime, never mind a few centuries. As some scholars put it, every society confronts (and creates) large collective problems; the US has consistently chosen individualist capitalist technologist solutions, and it remains to be seen whether that approach has a long-term future.