Understanding culture better could save lives. Sounds like an exaggeration? You might think so. However the COVID pandemic has shown how national cultures not only influence our lives but also our death as well. Culture is the forgotten factor in explaining the large differences in COVID death rates around the world and understanding this better could help save lives in the future.
The key cultural lens to look through is Hofstede’s respected research on individualism versus collectivism1. Hofstede defines individualist cultures as where “the ties between individuals are loose: everyone is expected to look after him/herself and his/her immediate family”2. By contrast collectivist cultures are where “people from birth onwards are integrated into strong, cohesive in-groups, often extended families (with uncles, aunts and grandparents) that continue protecting them in exchange for unquestioning loyalty, and oppose other ingroups”2.
What has become more and more obvious during the COVID-19 pandemic is that most of the countries which have the highest death rates are also the most individualistic. By contrast those countries with the lowest death rates are often the most collectivist. Although there are a variety of factors which impacts COVID-19 death rates, such as political decision making, population density, the age of the citizens and the country’s geography, it is still the case that there is a strong correlation between how collectivist a culture is and how successful it has been in responding to the pandemic. This valuable information could help save lives in the west.
The country which is the most individualistic in the world, the USA (scoring 91/100)3, is also the country with the highest number of total deaths from COVID and one of the highest ranked nations when it comes to COVID deaths per million of population4. American individualistic culture is one where people “are expected to take care of only themselves and their immediate families“5. This means that for some attending a mass anti-lockdown protest, where the virus can be spread, is considered "an acceptable risk”6. As one protester said "I'm gonna do what I got to do to feed my family. If it means I got to risk my health then so be it… and yes even potentially the health of others”6.
The UK, the 3rd most individualistic country in the world rated 89/1007, is also in the top 3 countries globally for deaths per million of the population4. The strong “ME culture”7 means that many do not want to restrict themselves for the benefit of others. One lady, who admitted to not following quarantining rules after travelling abroad, said "it probably was really selfish of me...I guess you just think of yourself and you want that holiday - but then you don't want to quarantine. No one wants to quarantine...I don't regret it”.8
Is the link between COVID and individualistic cultures just a coincidence? Not when you also consider Belgium and Italy. Belgium, a country which scores “very high” on individualism (75/100)9 is also ranked 1st globally for COVID deaths per million4. Italy also scores highly for individualism (76/100)10 and has the 5th most COVID deaths per million in the world4. In both countries getting people to think about others in order to follow restrictions has been a challenge. As one Italian doctor said, some Italians “could not care less about collective health....they don’t understand that their personal health depends on the health of everyone else. They don’t realise that if they get sick, they’ll lose their personal freedom and risk being hospitalised for weeks.”11
So what does a collectivist approach look like? One fascinating country to observe is Singapore. A country which is at a disadvantage when it comes to a virus that spreads through human contact as it’s population density is 21,646 people per square mile12, almost 30 times that of the UK’s 727 per square mile13. However this collectivist country (which scores 20/100 for individualism) is one where people “overcome their individuality”14 in order to maintain societal harmony. This has resulted in only 29 COVID deaths in total in Singapore; equating to 5 deaths per million of population, compared to the UK’s 1,585 deaths per million4.
Vietnam and Thailand are also strongly collectivist cultures, both scoring 20/100 for individualism15/16. They have seen incredibly low numbers of deaths from COVID 1.11 and 0.36 deaths per million population respectively4. In these cultures people see collective responsibility as having priority over individual rights. It has meant that “staying at home and washing one’s hands became a matter of patriotism in Vietnam”17.
It is not just confucian Asian countries where this phenomenon exists. It is also seen in Pakistan and Indonesia, both ranked amongst the most collectivist cultures in the world (each scores 14/100 for individualism)18/19 and both have had few COVID deaths, ranked 97th and 80th in the world for COVID deaths per million4.
Whilst not all countries fit this pattern, as I said previously, there are multiple factors which effect the death rate. There is enough of a link between collectivism and reducing the spread of the virus for research by The University of Kent to have corroborated it. They found that “people who adopt a collectivist mindset are more likely to comply with social distancing and hygiene practices to help reduce the spread of COVID-19. People who are more individualist are less likely to engage, partly due to beliefs in COVID-19 conspiracy theories, and feelings of powerlessness surrounding the pandemic.”20
So what can the individualistic west learn from this? Mikey Biddlestone from the University of Kent says that championing a “‘we are in this together’ mentality could encourage people to comply with guidelines that will reduce the spread of COVID-19. Promoting collectivism could make a positive difference...as a collectivist mindset might also make people less susceptible to conspiracy theories and misinformation that can negatively affect their behaviour”.20 Dr Gavin Morgan, a UK government adviser also supports this view saying "If we can begin to generate a sense of community and this feeling of social cohesion, which some countries do really well, our ability to fight Covid will be far more effective."8
So understanding culture really does matter. It might just save your life.
