I think the success of a culture based primarily on how well each individual manages. Key word: individual. In addition, it could be measured based on how many individuals aren't managing. If a culture or government has a lot of money but is not spreading it out around their people, then the culture as a whole is not successful. This also relates to what someone mentioned in class, about success being measured by the happiness of the culture. I completely agree with this, and I think it can be pushed even further by saying success can be measured by the happiness of each individual.
I agree with the first part of this statement, but disagree with the second. If a culture was judging the other based on how successful they were, by my definition of success they were wrong to judge. How could you possibly know for sure if the people of the culture are happy or not? Especially if you are an outsider, this would be impossible. However, I disagree that the only sound judgment comes from these specific facts. Like I said before, if a country is very successful economically, they might not be successful on the individual level, and vice versa.
All that being said, we are all biased people, and we all judge. Seriously, we all do it without thinking. So I'm not by any means saying I don't judge communist countries, I'm just saying maybe we shouldn't be so quick to.
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