> That was one of the main reasons why I decided to move to the West where having enough private space was considered to be a basic and unquestionable necessity.
I thought the reason these societies lived together was lack of financial means. It's not very different from where I currently live, but anybody that has enough funds to go on his own does indeed do it. It's not, in my opinion, about culture but rather it's almost impossible for a 30-year old in these countries to strike it on their own. Pay too low, and living is too expensive. They have to make it work together.
Well, the Soviet Union really tried implementing all those fair progressive ideas the West is so excited about. So the periphery, where the land was abundant, had constant shortage of food and household items. And in Moscow, that had much larger supply quotas (why wouldn't the bureaucrats think about themselves, huh?) there was a massive shortage of living space. So, to make it fair and square, apartments were allocated based on a bunch of metrics that included "square meters per registered person".
The West is doing it in a more subtle way though. There is no National Bureau of Square Foot Planning, but the educated, financially independent suburban family with savings, that is trying to pass their ways to the kids, is no longer the role model. Instead, if your parents nagged your head inside out to do homework + extracurriculars + do STEM or GTFO, instead of watching TV and eating chips, you are privileged and must be ashamed of yourself. And if you represent a culture where packed multi-generational living is OK, you get visibility and a pat on the back to keep your ways, rather than strong pressure to raise your bar and shoot for the stars.
I thought the reason these societies lived together was lack of financial means. It's not very different from where I currently live, but anybody that has enough funds to go on his own does indeed do it. It's not, in my opinion, about culture but rather it's almost impossible for a 30-year old in these countries to strike it on their own. Pay too low, and living is too expensive. They have to make it work together.