In Search of a Pan-European Culture: European Values, Beliefs, and Models of Selfhood in Global Perspective. (July 2018)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Vignoles, Vivian L.; Smith, Peter B.; Becker, Maja; Easterbrook, Matthew J.
• Other Names: Uskul Ayse K. guest-editor.; Benet-Martinez Verónica guest-editor.; Gobel Matthias S. guest-editor.; Mesquita Batja guest-editor.
• Is Part Of: Journal of cross-cultural psychology. Volume 49:Number 6(2018)
• Page Start: 868
• Page End: 887
• Publication Date: 2018-07
• Subjects: European culture -- values -- beliefs -- and models of selfhood -- multilevel analysis; Ethnopsychology -- Periodicals; 155.805
• DOI: 10.1177/0022022117738751
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0022-0221

Abstract

What, if any, are the common cultural characteristics that distinguish European societies and groups when viewed against a backdrop of global cultural variation? We sought to identify any shared features of European cultures through secondary multilevel analyses of two large datasets that together provided measures of cultural values, beliefs, and models of selfhood from samples in all inhabited continents. Although heterogeneous in many respects—including the value dimension of autonomy versus embeddedness—European samples shared two distinctive features: a decontextualized representation of personhood and a cultural model of selfhood emphasizing difference from others. Compared with samples from other regions, European samples on average also emphasized egalitarianism and harmony values, commitment to others in their models of selfhood, and an immutable concept of personhood, but not uniformly so. We interpret these findings in relation to a Durkheimian model of individualism.