Short answers, pulled from the story.
Harvard University professor Joseph Henrich published The WEIRDest People in the World in 2020. This book aims to explain history and psychological variation using approaches from cultural evolution and evolutionary psychology.
Henrich explores how a series of Catholic Church edicts on marriage began in the fourth century. These edicts undermined the foundations of kin-based society and created more analytical, individualistic thinking prevalent in western societies.
Richard Nisbett suggested people in WEIRD cultures think reductively with a focus on personal attributes and intentions. Asians think holistically with a focus on relationships and situations while Non-Westerners emphasize family connections and allegiances.
The Church dismantled Europe's kin-based institutions without intending to create the modern world. Without clan backing, nuclear families became isolated and vulnerable so they were forced to innovate to survive which ultimately created the modern world.
Pauline Grosjean said Henrich fails to address the role that states may have played because states acted as competitors and regulators of the Church. Nicholas Guyatt anticipated scholars would point out uneven effects across time and space regarding these historical processes.