Individualism as a Socio-Economic Phenomenon

Individualism lets the society test new ways of doing practically everything. The costs are beared by the individual - while his success can be easily copied by others and become beneficial for everyone. Those statements are true in our current socio-economic reality but they are not universal (imagine an nomadic tribe - at least some individualism for example in choosing the direction of the wandering cannot be copied by others after it proves successfully) - so individualism is not universal either. This might also explain the success of the western societies with very individualistic culture - this was a good adaptation for the changes or recent history.