Cultural DNA: The Psychology of Globalization

Chapter 6Europe: The Equal Society

Like many other regions in the world, Europe illustrates contradictions and tensions as the world globalizes. Visitors are struck by the continent's history, aesthetic beauty, and cultural depth. You also experience a relaxed openness and tolerance that is absent from many other parts of the world. Europeans appear to live comfortable lives, with a balanced approach to many areas—work and leisure, the public and private sectors, personal freedom and social responsibility. Europe also feels like the future in many respects, as other cultures move toward the kind of permissiveness and openness that are apparent in many countries on the continent.

Yet increasingly one can sense insecurities and tensions. Long ago, Europeans ceded the role of global leadership to the Americans but now other cultures such as India and China are catching up fast, which leads to a sense that the best years of the continent are behind it rather than ahead. As economic tensions mount, sentiments that challenge the openness of European culture increase and attitudes toward migrant communities and the outside world harden. Strains among European nations—a long-standing feature of the continent's cultural DNA—have started to rise again. Compared to many other cultures, Europe has always tended toward segmentation, division, and infighting. This has ebbed away over the past century or so, but fear of such sentiments resurfacing haunts European political leaders.

In business, ...