a cultural map of the world

[amw]

On one of my wiki jaunts of the last week i stumbled upon a fascinating chart called the Inglehart-Welzel cultural map of the world. It plots several countries against two axes based on their residents' responses to a survey exploring cultural values. The wiki page is worth a read, but the short description is that the axes are survival/self-

Comments

[benicek]

Earning enough NOT to work. Yes, I can see your point but family obligations tend to take away that option regardless of income. A high earner with a family may like the idea of a sabbatical but they are more likely to be committed also to a high expenditure on house and family, and to staying in a particular (expensive) locality. A single person, even a fairly low earner (such as a nurse) can stop and start with ease, as long as they remain in demand. I suppose that family also factors in to the 'survival' oriented mindset. It's not necessarily making money for oneself but much greater obligation to make it to help extended family too. As my Filipino colleagues have pointed out to me, if your relative is in intensive care in their country and they can't pay the bill, the hospital will turn off the ventilator and let them die. 'Lived experience' takes a back seat under those emotional pressures.

[amw]

This is a good point - wanting to protect your kids is a fairly universal human drive. People with dependents cannot afford to be blasé as someone like me when it comes to weighing up survival vs self-expression. But I also think the traditional vs secular-rational axis comes into play here, because it is more of a traditional value to emphasize family in the first place. Perhaps people who are less traditional care less about the fates of their family members? Or perhaps people who are more traditional less frequently choose to live child-free