" Even though individualism may be historically contingent, it has become so deeply part of the way that modern people understand themselves that it is hard to see how it gets walked back. Modern market economies depend heavily on flexibility, labor mobility, and innovation. If transactions need to take place within limited cultural boundaries, the size of markets and the kind of innovation that comes from cultural diversity will necessarily be limited. Individualism is not a fixed cultural characteristic of Western culture as alleged by certain versions of critical theory. It is a by-product of socioeconomic modernization that gradually takes place across different societies. "

― Francis Fukuyama , Liberalism and Its Discontents