Rather superficial reporting for The Atlantic, but interesting nonetheless. The point being ubiquitous smiles are evolved in mixed societies to indicate friendliness in the presence of a language barrier, where in some Asian countries smile and an eye contact may indicate your superiority and actually be an invitation to fight.<p>They mention Russians as an example, and it's very clear here: people from the middle class upwards mostly do smile (especially in this decade), whereas people with worse socioeconomic background still are very hostile to smiling strangers. But it may have more to do with ubiquitous fear and hiding of emotions inherited from Stalin's time.<p>Would be interesting to read a more deep analysis of meaning of smiles in a wider variety of cultures.