If I lived in much of Europe, I would probably consider air conditioning a luxury, too. Rome is the same latitude as Chicago. Paris is farther north than Seattle. London and Berlin have similar latitudes to Calgary and Saskatoon.
If you travel south from Europe to reach the same latitude as Houston, you will end up in the middle of the Sahara. I would consider air conditioning a necessity in either place.
I live in Tallinn. Slightly south of Anchorage, Alaska. There are few very hot summer weeks once or twice a decade and then it is uncomfortable, but for the rest of the time it is fine and that’s why people just won’t bother. I don’t believe there is some ideological component.