The Shaping of Us by Lily Bernheimer

Author:Lily Bernheimer
Language: eng
Format: epub, azw3
Publisher: Trinity University Press
Published: 2019-02-14T16:00:00+00:00

So do greater shared resources and uniformity produce a more collectivist culture in Britain? Political systems reflect the individualistic or collectivist orientations of cultures. The structure of our settlements and spaces shows the crystallisation of these systems over time. Smaller and more homogenous nations often tend to have more generous and extensive welfare systems than large and ethnically diverse countries like the US.

In addition to being a small place, Britain also has one of the most centralised systems of government known to the modern developed world.41 Think of those distant county councils still ruling upon what happens in the traffic ways of places like Yoredale. In America, local speed limits and parking regulations may change from one small city to another within a single urban area. Central government in London has a great amount of control over what happens in other cities and counties around the nation. British mayors have historically been relatively weak – both in the extent of their authority and control of their own budgets. Britain sometimes feels like it’s still run as one little kingdom. But it is a kingdom in which providing housing and health care for all citizens has been assumed as a basic responsibility of the state – essential collectivist assumptions almost unknown in the US.

Despite these dramatic differences, both America and England rank among the most individualistic countries of the world, according to many metrics. In the twentieth century, both nations adopted collectivist programmes and policies such as social security and national insurance. Depression, war, and the austere conditions of recovery united societies against common enemies, paving the way for a more egalitarian approach. But the greater security and prosperity enabled by social support ironically strengthened individualism by making people less dependent on family and other traditional support networks.

New York University sociologist David Garland has argued that the American and British welfare systems (excluding Scotland’s devolved services) are now more similar to each other than they are to their Nordic, continental, and antipodean counterparts in many ways. Not having to rebuild as extensively as her continental cousins, Britain experienced lower growth rates, leading to tighter constraints on social spending. The combination of universal benefits across a wide range of areas with a tight budget meant that the level and quality of benefits and services did not keep up with rising living standards.42 State agencies became major forces in developing the post-war landscape, bringing us council housing, NHS facilities, and, of course, those lovely roundabouts. These common institutions – many whose counterparts vary widely between regions, states, and cities in the US – shape places, people, and experiences similarly across the country.

Daily activities ranging from listening to the BBC to drinking tea have a certain consistency across Britain. British social norms dictate another collective (but maddeningly inefficient) practice of fetching rounds of tea for the entire office in workspaces of a certain small size. Confounded by my inconsistent preferences for milk and/or sugar, my British colleagues will politely inquire if Americans drink coffee

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