Most of us here are W.E.I.R.D.

[pjthompson]

Western. Educated. Industrialized. Rich. Democratic.

Most of my flist is not rich by American or European standards, but compared with the rest of the world, even the poorest of us are not doing bad at all. We in the West are not typical of the globe, although we often think of our culture as mainstream while the rest of the world is about "their culture."

This is a interesting article from mindhacks_feed about this attitude and how often scientists draw global conclusions about human nature based solely on studying the Western version of it. Then again, sometimes the cultural bias swings both ways...

Interesting things to think about.

Comments

[marycatelli]

even the "poorest" among us are living high on the hog by global standards. . . I remember the journalist who met a third-world teenager who wanted to come to the USA. Why? To see a country where poor people are fat!

[pjthompson]

Yes! So many Westerners, especially Americans, have no idea how rich we are in comparison to the rest of the globe.