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Southern Distinctiveness over Time, 1972-2000
Journal article   Open access

Southern Distinctiveness over Time, 1972-2000

Tom W Rice, William P McLean and Amy J Larsen
The American Review of Politics, Vol.23, pp.193-220
04/01/2002
DOI: 10.15763/issn.2374-7781.2002.23.0.193-220
url
https://doi.org/10.15763/issn.2374-7781.2002.23.0.193-220View
Published (Version of record) Open Access

Abstract

Scholars have long been interested in the cultural differences between the southern US & the rest of the nation. In this study we update & extend earlier work in this area by comparing & tracking the responses of southerners & nonsoutherners to over 75 questions from the 1972-2000 cumulative General Social Surveys. The analyses generate four conclusions. (1) The attitudes & behaviors of southerners are more conservative than those of nonsoutherners in many areas, including race, gender, religion, sex, social capital, & tolerance. (2) The magnitude of these regional differences remains about the same regardless of whether we compare all southerners & nonsoutherners or just white southerners & nonsoutherners. This suggests that southern culture is not just a "white" southern culture as many scholars have argued in the past. (3) The differences between southerners & nonsoutherners persist, although often to a lesser degree, after controlling for structural variables such as education, income, & urbanity. The implication is that southern distinctiveness is a product of both deep-seated cultural differences & structural differences between regions. (4) There is very little evidence that regional differences have declined over the past quarter century, challenging those who contend that southern culture is in retreat. 2 Tables, 1 Appendix, 44 References. Adapted from the source document.

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