As the researchers reported in the journal Psychological Science, individualism has increased by roughly 12 percent worldwide since 1960. This increase appears to be due mostly to increasing socio-economic development, including higher incomes, more education, urbanization, and a shift toward white-collar jobs.
During the Congress of Vienna, the great powers of Europe (Great Britain, Austria, Prussia, and Russia) guaranteed each other's independence by ensuring that no one country could dominate the continent.
Hinduism reinforced a strict social hierarchy called a caste system that made it nearly impossible for people to move outside of their social station. Emperors during the Gupta empire used Hinduism as a unifying religion and focused on Hinduism as a means for personal salvation.
