The Roots of Collectivistic Culture? Even within a given society, people’s cultural values may vary. Thomas Talhem and his colleagues (2014) found that Chinese from northern China, where wheat is traditionally grown, are more individualistic than Chinese from southern China, where rice is grown, despite sharing the same ethnic, educational, and socioeconomic background. The explanation? As this photo of villagers in southwest China harvesting rice shows, rice farming requires an extraordinary level of cooperation and coordination among villagers, characteristics that are highly valued in collectivistic cultures. In contrast, wheat farmers can succeed without help from their neighbors.
Dave Stamboulis/age fotostock