>Another question - I understand that individualism might have been espoused
>by the elites running for political offices. But why did their political
>propaganda resonate with commmon people, whose native cultures were often
>antithetical to the individualist ideology?
One, newcomers often assimilate to preexisting habits & ideologies. And two, immigrants are often self-selected ambitious misfits, so the preexisting ideology might appeal to them.
Doug