Cultural Consensus and Heterogeneity: Predicting the Importance of Beliefs for Action

• In Event: 3184 - Section on Sociology of Culture Refereed Roundtable Session
  In Refereed Roundtable 100min: Table 08. Mental Processes

Abstract

How should we measure culture and its influence on the beliefs and actions of individuals? Drawing on theory and work from structural social psychology, institutional theory, and cultural sociology I argue that measuring the level of cultural consensus in formal characteristics of a group is a way to model the influence of culture. Consensus around prominent strategies of action constrains the availability of alternative ways of ordering activity. I argue this leads to beliefs in such a society having a stronger relationship to actions for individuals than in those characterized by less consensus. Using survey data on environmental beliefs and behaviors from 35 countries, as well as country-level measures from multiple sources, I test this theory using a series of linear regressions and multi-level models. I find support for my hypotheses and conclude that the formal characteristics of culture are important aspects of modeling how macro-level social phenomena influence the beliefs and actions of individuals.

Author

• Joshua Franklin Doyle, Duke University