Southern Distinctiveness over Time, 1972-2000

Abstract

Scholars have long been interested in the cultural differences between the southern United States and the rest of the nation. In this study we update and extend earlier work in this area by comparing and tracking the responses of southerners and non-southerners to over 75 questions from the 1972-2000 cumulative General Social Surveys. The analyses generate four conclusions. First, the attitudes and behaviors of southerners are more conservative than those of non-southerners in many areas, including race, gender, religion, sex, social capital, and tolerance. Second, the magnitude of these regional differences remains about the same regardless of whether we compare all southerners and non-southerners or just white southerners and non-southerners. This suggests that Southern culture is not just a “white” southern culture as many scholars have argued in the past. Third, the differences between southerners and non-southerners persist, although often to a lesser degree, after controlling for structural variables such as education, income, and urbanity. The implication is that southern distinctiveness is a product of both deep-seeded cultural differences and structural differences between regions. Fourth, 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.