Higher education predicts worldwide cultural similarity to the United States

Abstract

**Author(s):** White, C. J. M.; Muthukrishna, M. We tested whether sharing socioeconomic status predicts cultural similarity between residents of different nations, such as whether elites share in a “global culture” or whether certain cultural variants are characteristic of low SES. We used the cultural fixation index to examine cultural distance between members of socioeconomic groups living in 88 countries, according to the set of cultural beliefs, values, and behaviors assessed by the World Values Survey (2005 – 2019). Overall, within-country cultural distances between SES-groups (defined by education, income, or self-reported status) were small, and between-country cultural distances were no more similar if people shared the same SES. However, highly educated respondents were consistently more culturally similar to people in the USA. This pattern was not found when SES was defined by income or self-reported status, and education did not predict cultural similarities to other global superpowers (e.g., China or Russia). Results show the global spread of Western values through formal education and imply that cross-cultural studies recruiting college-educated samples are likely to under-represent the world’s cultural variation.