Cultural heritage
Alberto Alesina & Paola Giuliano
NBER Working Paper, April 2013
Abstract:
We study the role of the most primitive institution in society: the family. Its organization and relationship between generations shape values formation, economic outcomes and influences national institutions. We use a measure of family ties, constructed from the World Values Survey, to review and extend the literature on the effect of family ties on economic behavior and economic attitudes. We show that strong family ties are negatively correlated with generalized trust; they imply more household production and less participation in the labor market of women, young adult and elderly. They are correlated with lower interest and participation in political activities and prefer labor market regulation and welfare systems based upon the family rather than the market or the government. Strong family ties may interfere with activities leading to faster growth, but they may provide relief from stress, support to family members and increased wellbeing. We argue that the value regarding the strength of family relationships are very persistent over time, more so than institutions like labor market regulation or welfare systems.
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Fieke Harinck et al.
Negotiation and Conflict Management Research, May 2013, Pages 67-78
Abstract:
People from honor cultures are generally seen as prone to react aggressively in conflict situations. The current research challenges this view and shows that people from honor cultures react more constructively to a conflict situation than people from dignity cultures, as long as they are not insulted. In an experiment in which 41 honor and 41 dignity participants reacted to a conflict situation with or without insult, we showed that - as long as they are not insulted - people from honor cultures handled potential conflict situations more constructively than people from dignity cultures. Thus, the good news about people from honor cultures is that they are willing and able to handle conflict situations constructively - even more so than people from dignity cultures - as long as they are not insulted.
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Negotiating with the Chinese: Are They More Likely to Use Unethical Strategies?
Zhenzhong Ma, Dapeng Liang & Honghui Chen
Group Decision and Negotiation, July 2013, Pages 641-655
Abstract:
It is always a challenge to deal with ethical dilemmas in negotiations and it is even more difficult when the other party is from a different culture. Understanding the differences between what is ethically appropriate and what is not in an international context has thus become important for a better understanding of different negotiation practices across the globe. This study explores the likelihood of Chinese negotiators' using unethical strategies in negotiations by examining Chinese managerial employees' perceived appropriateness of five categories of ethically questionable strategies. The results show that, in comparison with their counterparts from the USA, Chinese managers are more likely to consider it appropriate to use ethically questionable negotiation strategies in all five categories except the traditional bargaining strategies. In addition, contrary to the West where women tend to maintain higher ethical standards, no gender difference is found in China in the perceived appropriateness of using these strategies in all but one category. Implications for negotiation practitioners and international managers that often participate in international negotiations with the Chinese are then discussed, along with potential future research directions.
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Olga Stavrova, Thomas Schlösser & Detlef Fetchenhauer
Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, forthcoming
Abstract:
Psychological research postulates a positive relationship between virtue and happiness. This article investigates whether this relationship holds in cultures where virtue is not socially appreciated. We specifically focus on civic virtue, which is conceptualized as citizens' honesty in interactions with state institutions (e.g., tax compliance). Two indicators served as measures of the degree to which civic virtue is a part of a country's normative climate: These were each country's mean level of punishment directed at above-average cooperative players in public good experiments and the extent to which citizens justify fraud and free-riding. The results of two studies with data from 13 and 73 countries demonstrate that a positive relationship between civic virtue and happiness/life satisfaction is not universal: In countries where antisocial punishment is common and the level of justification of dishonest behaviors is high, virtuous individuals are no longer happier and more satisfied with life than selfish individuals.
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Pathogen Prevalence, Group Bias, and Collectivism in the Standard Cross-Cultural Sample
Elizabeth Cashdan & Matthew Steele
Human Nature, March 2013, Pages 59-75
Abstract:
It has been argued that people in areas with high pathogen loads will be more likely to avoid outsiders, to be biased in favor of in-groups, and to hold collectivist and conformist values. Cross-national studies have supported these predictions. In this paper we provide new pathogen codes for the 186 cultures of the Standard Cross-Cultural Sample and use them, together with existing pathogen and ethnographic data, to try to replicate these cross-national findings. In support of the theory, we found that cultures in high pathogen areas were more likely to socialize children toward collectivist values (obedience rather than self-reliance). There was some evidence that pathogens were associated with reduced adult dispersal. However, we found no evidence of an association between pathogens and our measures of group bias (in-group loyalty and xenophobia) or intergroup contact.
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Pathogens and Politics: Further Evidence That Parasite Prevalence Predicts Authoritarianism
Damian Murray, Mark Schaller & Peter Suedfeld
PLoS ONE, May 2013
Abstract:
According to a "parasite stress" hypothesis, authoritarian governments are more likely to emerge in regions characterized by a high prevalence of disease-causing pathogens. Recent cross-national evidence is consistent with this hypothesis, but there are inferential limitations associated with that evidence. We report two studies that address some of these limitations, and provide further tests of the hypothesis. Study 1 revealed that parasite prevalence strongly predicted cross-national differences on measures assessing individuals' authoritarian personalities, and this effect statistically mediated the relationship between parasite prevalence and authoritarian governance. The mediation result is inconsistent with an alternative explanation for previous findings. To address further limitations associated with cross-national comparisons, Study 2 tested the parasite stress hypothesis on a sample of traditional small-scale societies (the Standard Cross-Cultural Sample). Results revealed that parasite prevalence predicted measures of authoritarian governance, and did so even when statistically controlling for other threats to human welfare. (One additional threat - famine - also uniquely predicted authoritarianism.) Together, these results further substantiate the parasite stress hypothesis of authoritarianism, and suggest that societal differences in authoritarian governance result, in part, from cultural differences in individuals' authoritarian personalities.
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Institutions, Parasites and the Persistence of In-group Preferences
Daniel Hruschka & Joseph Henrich
PLoS ONE, May 2013
Abstract:
Much research has established reliable cross-population differences in motivations to invest in one's in-group. We compare two current historical-evolutionary hypotheses for this variation based on (1) effective large-scale institutions and (2) pathogen threats by analyzing cross-national differences (N = 122) in in-group preferences measured in three ways. We find that the effectiveness of government institutions correlates with favoring in-group members, even when controlling for pathogen stress and world region, assessing reverse causality, and providing a check on endogeneity with an instrumental variable analysis. Conversely, pathogen stress shows inconsistent associations with in-group favoritism when controlling for government effectiveness. Moreover, pathogen stress shows little to no association with in-group favoritism within major world regions whereas government effectiveness does. These results suggest that variation in in-group preferences across contemporary nation-states is more consistent with a generalized response to institutions that meet basic needs rather than an evolved response dedicated to pathogens.
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Rise and fall of competitiveness in individualistic and collectivistic societies
Andreas Leibbrandt, Uri Gneezy & John List
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, forthcoming
Abstract:
Competitiveness pervades life: plants compete for sunlight and water, animals for territory and food, and humans for mates and income. Herein we investigate human competitiveness with a natural experiment and a set of behavioral experiments. We compare competitiveness in traditional fishing societies where local natural forces determine whether fishermen work in isolation or in collectives. We find sharp evidence that fishermen from individualistic societies are far more competitive than fishermen from collectivistic societies, and that this difference emerges with work experience. These findings suggest that humans can evolve traits to specific needs, support the idea that socio-ecological factors play a decisive role for individual competitiveness, and provide evidence how individualistic and collectivistic societies shape economic behavior.
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Trust and Support for Surveillance Policies in Canadian and American Opinion
Reza Nakhaie & Willem de Lint
International Criminal Justice Review, June 2013, Pages 149-169
Abstract:
After September 11, much legislation has been passed that has impacted negatively upon the tradition of limited government and entrenched privacy rights. Scholarly interest is attracted to the mechanism by which regimes of control and surveillance have disestablished rights without engendering substantial popular resistance. In this article, we analyze a survey of Americans and Canadians on their attitudes toward surveillance and security-based legislation. We develop an argument that trust in government (TGB) produces a tolerance for legislation that limits citizen's rights. We evaluate our model for both Canada and the United States, given the scholarly debate that these countries differ regionally in their level of TGB and support of statism. We posit that support for surveillance and security legislation is related to respondents' trust of government, airport officials, and low tolerance of minorities (LTMs). Results suggest that TGB and airport officials as well as LTMs are the key predictors of surveillance and security legislation in both Canada and the United States. Although Quebeckers are more supportive and residents of the U.S. South are less supportive of security and surveillance legislation than the rest of North America, much of the difference in support for such policies can be accounted for by the level of public TGB.
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From the headscarf to the burqa: The role of social theorists in shaping laws against the veil
Peter Baehr & Daniel Gordon
Economy and Society, Spring 2013, Pages 249-280
Abstract:
Opposition to the burqa is widespread in Europe but not in the United States. What explains the difference? Focusing primarily on the French case and its Belgian facsimile, we seek to underscore the role of social theorists in legitimizing bans on the full veil. Ironically, this role has been largely disregarded by Anglophone theorists who write on the veil, and who often oppose its prohibition. This article suggests that Europe tends to be more repressive towards full veils because its political process is more open to multiple theoretical representations of the phenomenon of veiling. Conversely, the United States is more open to the provocative display of religious symbols in public because the political process is pre-structured by legal conventions that tend to filter out social theory. The push to ban the burqa in France principally derives from its brand of republicanism rather than being a product of racism and Islamophobia. Of particular significance in the French case is the emphasis on reciprocity as a political principle, a principle that is elongated into an ideal of sociability by French theorists in different disciplines. The arguments of these theorists are described, their rationale is explained and the impact of their intervention on the policy process is documented. The French case, where the popular press and legislature play a major role in shaping policy towards the burqa, is contrasted with that of the United States, where the judiciary, defending religious freedom, remains the most influential collective actor. Each country has correspondingly different attitudes to democracy. In France, the mission of democracy is to extend political equality to the social realm whereas in the United States it is religion that is prioritized so as to protect that which is deemed most sacred to the individual.
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A Comparison of American and Nepalese Children's Concepts of Freedom of Choice and Social Constraint
Nadia Chernyak et al.
Cognitive Science, forthcoming
Abstract:
Recent work has shown that preschool-aged children and adults understand freedom of choice regardless of culture, but that adults across cultures differ in perceiving social obligations as constraints on action. To investigate the development of these cultural differences and universalities, we interviewed school-aged children (4-11) in Nepal and the United States regarding beliefs about people's freedom of choice and constraint to follow preferences, perform impossible acts, and break social obligations. Children across cultures and ages universally endorsed the choice to follow preferences but not to perform impossible acts. Age and culture effects also emerged: Young children in both cultures viewed social obligations as constraints on action, but American children did so less as they aged. These findings suggest that while basic notions of free choice are universal, recognitions of social obligations as constraints on action may be culturally learned.
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Why Are Chinese Mothers More Controlling Than American Mothers? "My Child Is My Report Card"
Florrie Fei-Yin Ng, Eva Pomerantz & Ciping Deng
Child Development, forthcoming
Abstract:
Chinese parents exert more control over children than do American parents. The current research examined whether this is due in part to Chinese parents' feelings of worth being more contingent on children's performance. Twice over a year, 215 mothers and children (Mage = 12.86 years) in China and the United States (European and African American) reported on psychologically controlling parenting. Mothers also indicated the extent to which their worth is contingent on children's performance. Psychologically controlling parenting was higher among Chinese than American mothers, particularly European (vs. African) American mothers. Chinese (vs. American) mothers' feelings of worth were more contingent on children's performance, with this contributing to their heightened psychological control relative to American mothers.
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Trust, Culture, and Cooperation: A Social Dilemma Analysis of Pro-Environmental Behaviors
Kyle Irwin & Nick Berigan
Sociological Quarterly, forthcoming
Abstract:
Social dilemmas require a choice between cooperation, or sacrificing for the greater good, and self-interest. One commonly studied social dilemma is environmental conservation. Previous work suggests that trust predicts cooperation in the form of environmental protection. We contend that this view ignores cultural factors. Building on prior cross-cultural research, we predict an interaction between strength of social ties and trust on cooperation. Findings from General Social Survey data indicate that low trust levels found in the U.S. South (a collectivist culture) renders trust ineffective at promoting environmental protection. However, trust predicts cooperation in nonsouthern regions (which are more individualist), where trust levels are higher.
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Thijs Lambrecht
European Review of Economic History, May 2013, Pages 190-209
Abstract:
Life-cycle service was one of the characteristic aspects of the European marriage pattern. The majority of the children of labourers and peasants left the households of their parents during adolescence to acquire material resources and skills in preparation for marriage. While in service, adolescents could save part of their wages. As most of them worked in close geographical proximity to their family, children in service were also a potential source of income for their parents. This article studies the nature, frequency, and value of remittances from farm servants to their parents in three countries during the eighteenth century. Important differences emerge from this comparative study. Farm servants in Belgium and France frequently supported their parents from their earnings. In contrast, English labouring households could in most cases not rely on structural assistance from their unmarried adolescent children. I argue that ownership of land is instrumental in explaining these differences. The absence of land that could be passed on by inheritance operated as a check to intergenerational solidarity.
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Education, Language and Identity
Irma Clots-Figueras & Paolo Masella
Economic Journal, forthcoming
Abstract:
The process of individual identity formation is still an enigma, as is the capacity of public bodies to intervene in it. In 1983, the Catalan education system became bilingual, and Catalan, along with Spanish, was taught in schools. Using survey data from Catalonia we show that respondents who have been exposed for a longer time period to teaching in Catalan have stronger Catalan feelings. The effect also appears to be present among individuals whose parents do not have Catalan origins; in addition the reform affects political preferences and attitudes towards the organization of the State.
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Leadership at school: Does the gender of siblings matter?
Giorgio Brunello & Maria De Paola
Economics Letters, July 2013, Pages 61-64
Abstract:
We use survey data from the US and Japan to investigate whether having leader positions at middle and high school, as well as participating in sports and clubs is affected by the gender composition of siblings. We find that having only sisters at age 15 increases substantially the probability of school leadership in the US but has no statistically significant effect on leadership in Japan. We also find that parental education matters more for these behaviors in the US than in Japan, and that in the latter country the oldest son or daughter are more likely to be leaders in school.
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Sylvia Xiaohua Chen, Verónica Benet-Martínez & Jacky Ng
Journal of Personality, forthcoming
Objective: Whether language shapes cognition has long been a controversial issue. The present research adopts a functional approach to examining the effects of language use on personality perception and dialectical thinking. We propose that language use activates corresponding cultural mindsets which in turn influence social perception, thinking, and behavior.
Method: Four studies recruited Chinese-English bilinguals (N = 129 in Study 1; 229 in Study 2; 68 in Study 3; 106 in Study 4) and used within-subjects and between-subjects design, written and behavioral reports, self- and other-perceptions.
Results: The four studies converged to show that Chinese-English bilinguals exhibit higher dialectical thinking and more variations in self- and observer-ratings of personality when using the Chinese language than when using English. Furthermore, dialectical thinking predicted more self- and other-perceived variations in personality and behavior across bilingual contexts.
Conclusions: These results highlight the important role of culture in understanding the relations between language and cognition, and attest to the malleability of personality perception and dialectical thinking within and across individuals in response to culture-related linguistic cues.
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Sofie Vanassche, Gray Swicegood & Koen Matthijs
Journal of Happiness Studies, April 2013, Pages 501-524
Abstract:
This research examines the relationship between family structure and subjective well-being and the extent to which cultural differences across 24 countries/regions may condition that relationship. Using the 2002 ISSP data, we examine how the effects of marriage status and the presence of children on happiness and satisfaction with family life differ according to the perceived importance of marriage and parenthood in society. We find significant cross-country differences in the relationship between presence of young children and the happiness of men, and in the relationship between the marital status of women and their happiness and satisfaction with family life.
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Public face and private thrift in Chinese consumer behavior
Li Lin, Dong Xi & Richard Lueptow
International Journal of Consumer Studies, forthcoming
Abstract:
The concept of face, or mianzi, is quite important in Chinese culture. We examine how public face and private thrift together affect Chinese consumer shopping behaviour based on the results of a survey of nearly 400 Chinese consumers under the age of 40. When a product is used in public or the behaviour occurs in a public place, Chinese consumers are typically willing to spend more money than if a product or service is used in a private place or at home. In addition, non-Chinese or Western brands do not mean more ‘face' to Chinese consumers. Instead, it is the expense of the item that matters most with the ultimate goal of being praised by others.
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How national culture impacts teenage shopping behavior: Comparing French and American consumers
Elodie Gentina et al.
Journal of Business Research, forthcoming
Abstract:
The global teen market has significant spending power and an important impact on the world economy. However, much remains unknown about the social motivations of teenage consumers and cross-national cultural differences in teenage shopping. This research studies teenage shopping motivations in two nations: the U.S., which is a highly individualistic national culture with low power distance and low uncertainty avoidance, and France, which is perhaps a somewhat more collectivist, more inter-dependent national culture with high power distance and high uncertainty avoidance. This research samples 570 teenage consumers. Susceptibility to peer influence (SPI) drives teenage consumer shopping in France, while both need for uniqueness (NFU) and SPI motivate teenage shopping in the U.S.