The Cultural Divide

Citation: Klaus Desmet, Romain Wacziarg (2018) The Cultural Divide.
DOI (original publisher): 10.3386/w24630
Semantic Scholar (metadata): 10.3386/w24630
Sci-Hub (fulltext): 10.3386/w24630
Internet Archive Scholar (search for fulltext): The Cultural Divide
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Summary

Using survey data from the General Social Survey (GSS) from 1972 to 2016 authors consider 11 identity cleavages, identify scope for modern communications to lead to echo chamber for identity, and whether identity can be freely chosen, and develop a model in which three forces explain the distribution of memes across and within groups and its dynamics: intergenerational transmission, social conformism and the emergence of cultural innovations.

Echo chamber potential and free choice of identity (expect strongest divergence): party ID and to a lesser extent, religion.

Echo chamber potential and low choice of identity (expect moderate divergence): ethnicity, race, and to a lesser extent, family income, work status and education.

Low echo chamber potential (makes choice of identity less relevant; expect low divergence): age, gender, region and urbanicity.

Authors find theoretical predictions largely consistent with the empirical patterns seen after the introduction of modern media and communication technologies: since the late 1990s, fixation is mostly flat for age, gender, region and urbanicity; mildly increasing for ethnicity, race, income, work status and education; and strongly increasing for religion and party ID.