Food for thought: "Harmony and the dream"

[Skybird]

I found this to be a good read:

http://www.iht.com/bin/printfriendly.php?id=15207937

If Asia's success reopens the debate between individualism and collectivism (which seemed closed after the cold war), then it's unlikely that the forces of individualism will sweep the field or even gain an edge.
For one thing, there are relatively few individualistic societies on earth. For another, the essence of a lot of the latest scientific research is that the Western idea of individual choice is an illusion and the Chinese are right to put first emphasis on social contexts.
(...)
The rise of China isn't only an economic event. It's a cultural one. The ideal of a harmonious collective may turn out to be as attractive as the ideal of the American Dream.
It's certainly a useful ideology for aspiring autocrats.

P.S. Let's play a game. On a scale on "social attitude" from -5 over 0 to +5, with -5 meaning "total individualistic, isolationistic attitude a la USA" (as understood in the essay's context), and +5 meaning a "total collective, social attitude a la China" (as understood in the essay'S context) - where would you locate yourself in your own subjective self-perception?

I was tempted to give myself a "0" as being balanced between both extremes, but then realised that I am not that balanced at all, but jump between extremes, constantly. So I would say I jump back and forth between -3 and +2 a lot, without the balance in-between, depending on the social situation I am in. Friends also describe me to be changing in social attitude like this , depending on the the situation they see me in.

[Diopos]

Originally Posted by Skybird

...
I was tempted to give myself a "0" as being balanced between both extremes, but then realised that I am not that balanced at all, but jump between extremes, constantly...

Please stop jumping! You're making me dizzy!

I'm a "0" both by persuasion and character... (I wonder what a psychoanalyst would say about my self image )

[Platapus]

I don't think that a person can have only one rating. As you pointed out, you jump depending on the circumstances.

If you are interested in the research done in this concept, I can recommend the books by
Richard Lewis He has written extensively on this concept.

Fons Trompenaars and Charles Hampden-Turner they look at this more from a business standpoint

Geert and Gert Jan Hofstede. These two address the concept from an international policy viewpoint.

[Mush Martin]

Bipolar Extremism is balanced extremism
(half the time its extremely great)

:hmm:so your out by a third of
a point thats harmonics it will pass over time.

[UnderseaLcpl]

USA isn't a -5. It's more like a -1 or a zero at this point. Politically I am a -5. Personally I am a +2.

As far as China goes, just wait and see. Either they will continue to embrace communism and suffer an economic collapse similar to that of the Soviet Union, or they will lean even more heavily on the Special Economic Zones and become more like Europe.
The rise of China IS purely an economic event. It is that and that only. Remember China before the SEZs? Poverty-stricken and worthless. After the SEZs? Major national powerhouse. And that's with a fraction of their country devoted to capitalism.
Luckily for the U.S., communism maintains a hold on them and keeps them from usurping us as the pre-eminent world power, for the time being.