Is the American obsession with individual freedom really such a great idea? What other cultures know about how to make good choices.
Sit down at a restaurant in France, and there’s a menu. Salmon with rice. French beans. Wine. If you ask for potatoes instead of rice, the restaurant will say no. Because it is their menu. Not yours. To an American, this is nearly unfathomable.
One American model: Give me personal autonomy or give me death.
“In terms of fetishizing the idea of choice, the U.S. is the absolute pinnacle,” says Barry Schwartz, professor of social theory and social change at Swarthmore College and author of The Paradox of Choice. “We want to be able to choose everything that matters, as well as the things that don’t.”
We want to be able to choose everything that matters, as well as the things that don’t.
Rice and potatoes aside, the American desire for…
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