Monday, February 9, 2015
Baby
Boomers
have
been
referred
to
as
the
Me
Generation,
but
new
research
indicates
that
people
actually
started
to
become
increasingly
self-centred
more
than
100
years
ago.
In
the
first
study
of
its
kind
covering
a
150-year
period,
researchers
looked
at
U.S.
culture
to
determine
how
and
why
people
there
became
more
independent
and
less
reliant
on
family
ties,
conformity
and
duty.
This
phenomenon
is
called
individualism.
“We
found
that
changes
in
the
social
class
structure
precede
changes
in
individualism,”
said
Professor
Igor
Grossmann,
of
the
Department
of
Psychology
at
the
University
of
Waterloo
and
the
study’s
first
author.
"As
demands
of
U.S.
society
shifted
from
manual
labour
to
office
jobs,
Americans
gained
education
and
wealth,
both
of
which
promote
self-direction
and
ultimately
facilitate
individualism."
Grossmann
and
Professor
Michael
Varnum,
of
Arizona
State
University,
found
that
the
significant
cultural
change
American
society
experienced
started
before
the
turn
of
the
last
century.
Continue
reading
on
exchangemagazine.com