Published March 11th, 2007 by Future Atlas
Mapping dyschronicity
Future Atlas has a new map of an aspect of dyschronicity, the distance in time between places measured by culture, technology, or some other characteristic.
In this case, the map shows approximate distance between one place and the rest of the world in the area of values and attitudes.
The reference country in this map is Sweden, as it is notably further along in a number of social trends that many countries are now undergoing. The map is essentially an estimation of how long ago Sweden was like that place in its values and attitudes.
This kind of dyschronicity can illuminate some culturally-rooted issues. For instance:
- There is some logic in finding Denmark at the heart of the cartoon controversy of last year: it is centuries out of sync with most of the Muslim world at the cultural level.
- Turkey and Western Europe are at best decades apart at this level, helping to drive European reluctance to bring Turkey into the European Union.
- Western Europe and the US are also partially living in different times, with Europeans viewing Americans as backward on issues such as the death penalty, health care, and environmentalism.
For more, see this Future Atlas page.
Hafsa Says
i have been thinking about this map for the last month, it just blow my mind of how we in the arabic/islamic/african world are the most far away from any sign of cultural progress.
with your permission i will need to republish this in my blog with arabic commentary and some addition of my own and for sure your link will be added as a referance for any visitor wishes to verfiy my source of information.
thanks once again.
May 22nd, 2008 at 6:58 pm