The main global cultural differences today evolved from environment-related historical agricultural patterns

Abstract

Decades of research have demonstrated that many cultural differences between modern nations are associated with a single dimension of culture, called “individualism-collectivism” (IDV-COLL) or various other terms (including Schwartz's “embeddedness”), contrasting Northwestern Europe plus the English-speaking countries with countries at low geographic latitudes. IDV cultures are characterized by greater individual freedom (especially reproductive and religious), rule of law, and human rights than COLL ones. Despite a partial worldwide shift toward IDV, these country differences are relatively stable. Previous research explains them as a function of differences in wealth, climate, pathogen prevalence, Western Church policies, and more. We test a new theory: prevalent types of agriculture 100 years ago and earlier still explain IDV-COLL differences. We analyze two strongly correlated IDV-COLL versions, by Minkov-Kaasa and by Schwartz, as well as a new measure of objective COLL-IDV for 84 nations, consisting of household size, gender inequality, LGBT rights, and rule of law. We also use the Minkov-Kaasa IDV-COLL index for the 50 US states. For all national IDV-COLL/COLL-IDV measures, across the whole country sample, and across 35 culturally independent nations (thus avoiding autocorrelation), historically prevalent dairy farming is associated with IDV, whereas nomadic herding and shifting cultivation are associated with COLL. Across 48 US states, historically prevalent dairy farming predicts IDV, plantations predict COLL. Agriculture always produces the strongest direct effects. The effects of the other predictors are inconsistent, with the seeming exception of wealth. Yet, some environmental predictors have a distal effect on IDV-COLL, mostly through the mediation of agricultural types. © 2025 Elsevier Ltd