Political Culture in Canada and the United States: Comparing Social Trust, Self-Esteem, and Political Liberalism in Major Canadian and American Cities

In: Social science quarterly, Band 81, Heft 3, S. 826-836

Abstract

This study investigates the proposition that residents of the cities of Canada & the US differ in their political cultures. Methods. The analysis employs aggregated individual-level data on social trust, self-esteem, & liberalism provided to the authors after being aggregated at the city level & in subgroups of the population in each city (7 in Canada, 47 in the US). Results. There are significant differences in the levels of social trust expressed by the citizens of the cities of the two countries, with Canadians expressing the greater trust, but no significant differences on self-esteem & liberalism. When clustering cities using all three values, five of the Canadian cities group in a single cluster shared with no US cities. Generational effects emerge in the cross-national comparison of self-esteem & liberalism. Conclusions. On the basis of these city-level aggregated individual data, there remain significant differences between the cultures of Canada & the US. Moreover, little evidence suggests that the cultures of the two countries will become closer as the result of generational replacement. 4 Tables, 30 References. Adapted from the source document.