Latin America, Eastern Europe/Russia, and Japan as semi-WEIRD countries/regions (2013, college)
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Is it fair to say that, in the study of psychology, places like Latin America, Eastern Europe/Russia, and Japan (plus the other Asian tigers like S. Korea more recently) are less WEIRD (Western, educated, industrialized, rich, and democratic) than North America, Western Europe, Australia, etc. but more so than traditional and/or primitive societies that are very heavily clan-based?
Is it fair to say that, in the study of psychology, places like Latin America, Eastern Europe/Russia, and Japan (plus the other Asian tigers like S. Korea more recently) are less WEIRD (Western, educated, industrialized, rich, and democratic) than North America, Western Europe, Australia, etc. but more so than traditional and/or primitive societies that are very heavily clan-based?
In following up on this question, what I mean is that both Latin America and the former Communist bloc (e.g. Poland, Hungary, Russia) are very Western in culture - more so than the remaining parts of the world like the Middle East or South Asia or sub-Saharan Africa - and yet aren't as rich nor comprehensively industrialized nor with a consistent democratic record going back decades.
Kind of similarly, first Japan and later on the likes of South Korea, Taiwan, Hong Kong, and Singapore are culturally very Asian rather than Western and yet have developed Western political/economic institutions and have become rich, industrialized, and democratic (and have been educated for a long time even before recent decades).
Having said all of this, does that mean that Latin America, Eastern Europe & Russia, and at least parts of East/SE Asia are less WEIRD than the US, Canada, Western/Northern Europe, Australia, New Zealand, etc. but more so than either the remaining parts of the world or certainly the highly traditional, kinship-based societies that have existed for most of human history?
Or let's say for Latin America or for Eastern Europe, if that's not necessarily the case, can one at least say that the likes of Argentina or Chile or Slovenia or Croatia or Czechia or Estonia (to name many of the per-capita richest countries in those regions, though that's just relatively so) are borderline WEIRD?
In following up on this question, what I mean is that both Latin America and the former Communist bloc (e.g. Poland, Hungary, Russia) are very Western in culture - more so than the remaining parts of the world like the Middle East or South Asia or sub-Saharan Africa - and yet aren't as rich nor comprehensively industrialized nor with a consistent democratic record going back decades.
Kind of similarly, first Japan and later on the likes of South Korea, Taiwan, Hong Kong, and Singapore are culturally very Asian rather than Western and yet have developed Western political/economic institutions and have become rich, industrialized, and democratic (and have been educated for a long time even before recent decades).
Having said all of this, does that mean that Latin America, Eastern Europe & Russia, and at least parts of East/SE Asia are less WEIRD than the US, Canada, Western/Northern Europe, Australia, New Zealand, etc. but more so than either the remaining parts of the world or certainly the highly traditional, kinship-based societies that have existed for most of human history?
Or let's say for Latin America or for Eastern Europe, if that's not necessarily the case, can one at least say that the likes of Argentina or Chile or Slovenia or Croatia or Czechia or Estonia (to name many of the per-capita richest countries in those regions, though that's just relatively so) are borderline WEIRD?
While I'm not exactly sure what you mean by the use of the term weird/would appreciate it if you were to elaborate on what you mean by it , I can nonetheless make the safe claim that there is nothing unusual about the former East Bloc countries you've mentioned being still rather different than " the West " in certain ways .
To begin it's helpful to mention with while countries like Poland and Hungary certainly have much lower GDP's/much less economic clout than their " Western " counterparts , they are nonetheless most certainly not poorer than their " Western " counterparts in terms of the standard of material comfort the average person living in said countries enjoys .
After all the vast majority of people living in both Poland/Hungary/the entire ex Communist bloc aren't starving or going thirsty , nor do they live in ramshackle huts with no electricity and indoor plumbing while having no inkling of what the Internet is/what smartphones are .
As for not being comprehensively industrialized , it all really depends which specific country you want to compare them to , but you are correct that countries that were traditionally always much more agrarian still tend to exhibit lingering after effects of that legacy .
With respect to their democratic record , democracy as such is a political system that's wholly unsuitable to the national character of virtually all " Eastern European " ethnic groups , which is precisely why said system is such a colossal failure to this very day in that part of the world .
All in all I'd like to reiterate that I'd probably be able to give a much better answer to your question if you were to elaborate a bit on what you're trying to get at , but I hope this one will suffice for now .
P.S. I've put the terms " West " , " Western " , and " Eastern European " in quotation marks for the reasons that will follow :
The " Eastern European " countries that actually belong to Central Europe , i.e. all the countries which at least in part used to belong to the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth and/or the Kingdom of Hungary , are just as " Western " in terms of belonging to Western Civilization as any contemporary " Western European " country .
Thus referring to them as " Eastern European " only makes sense in terms of referring to the Post Cold War context of having been formerly Communist , even though usage of said term should be ( as many natives from the region itself state ) IMHO discarded in favor of Central European .
In short a great divide exists between those " Eastern European " countries which make up the Intermarium region and those that belong to the Orthodox-Byzantine cultural sphere , aka the real " Eastern Europe " .
What both of these links are pointing to, essentially, is that most people who have participated in psychological studies - as well as the ones conducting those studies - are in the so-called WEIRD countries, and this biases the discipline of psychology towards what/how people in the rich Western world think and process information, as opposed to either the rest of the world currently or how most human societies (agrarian and hunter-gatherer alike) functioned throughout most of human history.
What both of these links are pointing to, essentially, is that most people who have participated in psychological studies - as well as the ones conducting those studies - are in the so-called WEIRD countries, and this biases the discipline of psychology towards what/how people in the rich Western world think and process information, as opposed to either the rest of the world currently or how most human societies (agrarian and hunter-gatherer alike) functioned throughout most of human history.
Ah so it's a psychology related acronym ...
In that case I won't be typing about anything directly related to that discipline , since doing so would be out of my depth , however with respect to the differences in mentality you've alluded to I can add one or two observations :
The mentality of college students in ex East Bloc Central European countries does not differ from those of their Western European or North American counterparts due to contemporary material circumstances , since they inhabit the exact same Internet/smartphone oriented universe , but to lingering unintended after effects of the Communist era as well as the usual unique to every individual nation cultural differences that always have applied .
To be more specific , the fact that ( f.ex ) the feminist and LGBT rights movements in that part of the world are still roughly 30 years behind due to the fact that they simply didn't exist here during the Communist era , has much more to do with differences in mentality between college students in this part of the world and their counterparts in the West , than anything even remotely related to actual material differences in the standard level of material comfort .
Of course the popular perception of material differences between " Eastern Europe " and " Western Europe " does have a lot to do with certain differences in mentality between the respective populations of said parts of the world , but that's a subject unto itself .
The IDH index is the best international index widely considered nowadays.
The regions mentioned does not have one level of functional development. North America has three countries in very different levels of functionality.
Latin America has countries in strong different levels of life conditions.
We can consider that IDH considers very basic aspects, but it in fact reveals the most to the least functional societies.
How is this the in study of psychology lol? Nothing to see here, I was hoping for a discussion about Bolzmann brains or the first spacecraft...which was Russian . Yet...I want my 5 minutes back, not in the mood for lgbt-Australia worship...
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semi-WEIRD psychologies
. Yet...I want my 5 minutes back, not in the mood for lgbt-Australia worship...
