Journal article
Beyond Statistical Variables: Examining the Duality of Persons and Groups in Structuring Cultural Space
Poetics (Amsterdam), Vol.108, 101967
02/2025
DOI: 10.1016/j.poetic.2024.101967
Abstract
•Cultural Blau Space is introduced as a general tool for exploring cultural consensus.•Social groups shape cultural space through within-group homogeneity and cross-group fragmentation.•Partisan identification and educational attainment play a large role in structuring the cultural space.
Socially constructed categories are central to sociological investigation, but their use in empirical research on culture is often limited to a role as explanatory variables in regression designs comparing differences in groups means. We argue that categories can and do structure cultural space on multiple dimensions simultaneously, and that the cohesiveness of culture within categories is under-explored in existing work. Drawing on insights from the “duality of persons and groups” and the “duality of persons and culture,” we develop the concept of Cultural Blau Space as a general tool for exploring cultural consensus. Cultural Blau Space is a multi-dimensional space defined by many measures of personal culture and individuals are positioned within this space based on the similarity of their cultural profiles. We then explore how social groups structure a cultural space defined by political and social attitudes in two ways: within-group homogeneity and cross-group fragmentation. We find that partisan identification and educational attainment play a larger role in structuring this cultural space than ascribed characteristics such as gender, with the former increasing in homogeneity and fragmentation in recent years.
Details
- Title: Subtitle
- Beyond Statistical Variables: Examining the Duality of Persons and Groups in Structuring Cultural Space
- Creators
- Yongren Shi - Department of Sociology and Criminology, the University of Iowa, Iowa City, IA 52245, USAKevin Kiley - North Central State CollegeFreda B. Lynn - University of Iowa
- Resource Type
- Journal article
- Publication Details
- Poetics (Amsterdam), Vol.108, 101967
- Publisher
- Elsevier B.V
- DOI
- 10.1016/j.poetic.2024.101967
- ISSN
- 0304-422X
- eISSN
- 1872-7514
- Grant note
- National Science Foundation: 2048670
The authors thank participants in the Department of Sociology and Criminology colloquium at the University of Iowa and at the 2024 American Sociological Association annual meeting for their valuable feedback and insights. The authors are especially grateful for the comments provided by Ronald Breiger. This research was supported by a grant from the National Science Foundation (2048670) .
- Language
- English
- Date published
- 02/2025
- Academic Unit
- Sociology and Criminology
- Record Identifier
- 9984771633702771
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