Climato-economic imprints on Chinese collectivism

A still unsolved question is why humans create collectivism. New theory proposes that poorer populations coping with more demanding winters or summers become more collectivist. Preliminary support comes from a province-level analysis of survey data from 1662 native residents of 15 Chinese provinces. Collectivism is weakest in provinces with temperate climates irrespective of income (e.g., Guangdong), negligibly stronger in higher-income provinces with demanding climates (e.g., Hunan), and strongest in lower-income provinces with demanding climates (e.g., Heilongjiang). Multi¬level analysis consolidates the results by demonstrating that collectivism at the provincial level fully mediates the interactive impact of climato-economic hardships on collectivist orientations at the individual level, suggesting that culture building is a collective top-down rather than bottom-up process.