Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Quantifying Spatial Variation in Aggregate Cultural Tolerance

  • Chapter
  • First Online:
Spatial Synthesis

Part of the book series: Human Dynamics in Smart Cities ((HDSC))

  • 357 Accesses

Abstract

Quantifying cultural influences on demographic behaviors and outcomes is challenging because social norms, values, and beliefs are difficult to measure and isolate from various confounders. A new strategy combines biomarker data and small area estimation techniques to measure geographic variation in cultural tolerance—the cultural tenets that value individual autonomy and freedom of choice over conformity and deference to authority. The basis of my strategy hinges on the fact that, aside from genetic and pathological factors, in most societies human handedness historically is affected by cultural and environmental pressures against left-handedness. Growing cultural tolerance in a society should reduce the incidence of forced hand switching among born left-handers and increase left-hander prevalence in the population. Using population-based data on individual handedness in China, small area estimates of left-hander prevalence at the provincial level predict individuals’ attitudes towards freedom of choice and equality of opportunities in an independent sample.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

Log in via an institution
Chapter
USD 29.95
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
eBook
USD 39.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as EPUB and PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Softcover Book
USD 54.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Compact, lightweight edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info
Hardcover Book
USD 54.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Durable hardcover edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Institutional subscriptions

References

  • Annett, M. (1993). The disadvantages of dextrality for intelligence—corrected findings. British Journal of Psychology, 84(4), 511–516.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Annett, M., & Kilshaw, D. (1982). Mathematical ability and lateral asymmetry. Cortex, 18(4), 547–568.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Antecol, H. (2000). An examination of cross-country differences in the gender gap in labor force participation rates. Labour Economics, 7(4), 409–426.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Armour, J. A., Davison, A., et al. (2014). Genome-wide association study of handedness excludes simple genetic models. Heredity, 112(3), 221–225.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bachrach, C. A. (2014). Culture and demography: From reluctant bedfellows to committed partners. Demography, 51(1), 3–25.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bakan, P. (1971). Handedness and birth order. Nature, 229(5281), 195.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Beidelamn, T. O. (1973). Kaguru symbolic classification. In R. Needham (Ed.), Right and left: Essays on dual symbolic classification (pp. 128–166). Press: Chicago, University of Chicago.

    Google Scholar 

  • Beukelaar, L. J., & Kroonenberg, P. M. (1986). changes over time in the relationship between hand preference and writing hand among left-handers. Neuropsychologia, 24(2), 301–303.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Brackenridge, C. J. (1981). Secular variation in handedness over ninety years. Neuropsychologia, 19(3), 459–462.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Brandler, W. M., Morris, A. P., et al. (2013). Common variants in left/right asymmetry genes and pathways are associated with relative hand skill. PLoS Genetics, 9(9), e1003751.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bryden, P. J., & Bruyn, J. et al. (2005). Handedness and health: An examination of the association between different handedness classifications and health disorders. Laterality: Asymmetries of Body, Brain and Cognition, 10(5), 429–440.

    Google Scholar 

  • Chayatte, C., Abern, S. B., et al. (1979). Left handed people. Irish Medical Journal, 72, 511.

    Google Scholar 

  • Chen, H., Guarnaccia, P. J., et al. (2003). Self-attention as a mediator of cultural influences on depression. International Journal of Social Psychiatry, 49(3), 192–203.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Coren, S. (1989). Left-handedness and accident-related injury risk. American Journal of Public Health, 79(8), 1040–1041.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Coren, S., & Halpern, D. F. (1991). Left-handedness: A marker for decreased survival fitness. Psychological Bulletin, 109(1), 90–106.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • DiMaggio, P. (1997). Culture and cognition. Annual Review of Sociology, 23(1), 263–287.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Fernández, R., & Fogli, A. (2009). Culture: An empirical investigation of beliefs, work, and fertility. American Economic Journal: Macroeconomics, 1(1), 146–177.

    Google Scholar 

  • Gelman, A., & Little, T. C. (1997). poststratification into many categories using hierarchical logistic regression. Survey Methdology, 23, 127–135.

    Google Scholar 

  • Gilbert, A. N., & Wysocki, C. J. (1992). Hand preference and age in the united states. Neuropsychologia, 30(7), 601–608.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Guiso, L., Sapienza, P., et al. (2006). Does culture affect economic outcomes? Journal of Economic Perspectives, 20(2), 23–48.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Halpern, D. F., & Coren, S. (1991). Handedness and life span. New England Journal of Medicine, 324(14), 998.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hardyck, C., Goldman, R., et al. (1975). Handedness and sex, race, and age. Human Biology, 47(3), 369–375.

    Google Scholar 

  • Harris, L. J. (1983). Laterality of function in the infant: historical and contemporary trends in theory and research. In G. Young, S. J. Segalowitz, C. M. Corter, & S. E. Trehub (Eds.), Manual specialization and the developing brain (pp. 177–247). New York, Academic: Press.

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • Harris, L. J. (1990). Cultural influences on handedness: historical and contemporary theory and evidence. Left-handedness: Behavioral implications and anomalies. S. Coren. Amsterdam, Elsevier Science, 195–258.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hicks, R. A., Evans, E. A., et al. (1978a). Correlation between handedness and birth order: Compilation of five studies. Perceptual and Motor Skills, 46(1), 53–54.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hicks, R. A., Pellegrini, R. J., et al. (1978b). Handedness and birth risk. Neuropsychologia, 16(2), 243–245.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hoosain, R. (1990). Left handedness and handedness switch amongst the chinese. Cortex, 26(3), 451–454.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hsin, A., & Xie, Y. (2014). Explaining Asian americans’ academic advantage over whites. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 111(23), 8416–8421.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Iwasaki, S., Kaiho, T., et al. (1995). Handedness trends across age groups in a japanese sample of 2316. Perceptual and Motor Skills, 80(3), 979–994.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Johnston, D. W., Nicholls, M. E. R., et al. (2013). Handedness, health and cognitive development: Evidence from children in the national longitudinal survey of youth. Journal of the Royal Statistical Society: Series A (Statistics in Society), 176(4), 841–860.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kavas, S. (2015). ‘Wardrobe modernity’: Western attire as a tool of modernization in turkey. Middle Eastern Studies, 51(4), 515–539.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Koelkebeck, K., & Uwatoko, T. et al. (2016). How culture shapes social cognition deficits in mental disorders—a review. Social Neuroscience: null-null.

    Google Scholar 

  • Lesthaeghe, R. J. (2010). The unfolding story of the second demographic transition. Population and Development Review, 36(2), 211–251.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Levy, J. (1974). Psychobiological implications of bilateral asymmetry. In S. J. Dimond & J. G. Beaumont (Eds.), Hemisphere function in the human brain (pp. 121–183). Oxford, England, John: Wiley.

    Google Scholar 

  • Li, X.-T. (1983). The distribution of left and right handedness in chinese people. Acta Psychologica Sinica, 3, 268–276.

    Google Scholar 

  • Markus, H. R., & Kitayama, S. (1991). Culture and the self: Implications for cognition, emotion, and motivation. Psychological Review, 98(2), 224–253.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Masuda, T., Ellsworth, P. C., et al. (2008). Placing the face in context: Cultural differences in the perception of facial emotion. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 94(3), 365–381.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Masuda, T., & Nisbett, R. E. (2001). Attending holistically versus analytically: Comparing the context sensitivity of japanese and americans. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 81(5), 922–934.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • McManus, I. C. (2009). The history and geography of human handedness. In I. E. C. Sommer & R. S. Kahn (Eds.), Language lateralization and psychosis (pp. 37–58). Press: New York, Cambridge University.

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • Medland, S. E., Duffy, D. L., et al. (2009). Genetic influences on handedness: Data from 25,732 Australian and dutch twin families. Neuropsychologia, 47(2), 330–337.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Medland, S. E., Duffy, D. L., et al. (2006). Handedness in twins: Joint analysis of data from 35 samples. Twin Research and Human Genetics, 9(01), 46–53.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Nisbett, R. E., Peng, K., et al. (2001). Culture and systems of thought: Holistic versus analytic cognition. Psychological Review, 108(2), 291–310.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Park, D. K., Gelman, A., et al. (2004). Bayesian multilevel estimation with poststratification: State-level estimates from national polls. Political Analysis, 12(4), 375–385.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Polavieja, J. G. (2015). Capturing culture: A new method to estimate exogenous cultural effects using migrant populations. American Sociological Review, 80(1), 166–191.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Porac, C., & Coren, S. (1981). Lateral preferences and human behavior. New York: Springer.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Porac, C., Coren, S., et al. (1986). Environmental factors in hand preference formation: Evidence from attempts to switch the preferred hand. Behavior Genetics, 16(2), 251–261.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Porac, C., & Rees, L. et al. (1990). Switching hands: A place for left hand use in a right hand world. Left-Handedness: Behavioral Implications and Anomalies. S. Coren. Amsterdam, Elsevier Science, 259–290.

    Google Scholar 

  • Raymo, J. M., Park, H., et al. (2015). Marriage and family in east Asia: Continuity and change. Annual Review of Sociology, 41(1), 471–492.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Raymond, M., & Pontier, D. (2004). “Is there geographical variation in human handedness?” laterality: Asymmetries of body. Brain and Cognition, 9(1), 35–51.

    Google Scholar 

  • Satz, P. (1972). Pathological left-handedness: An explanaory model. Cortex, 8(2), 121–135.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Siengthai, B., Kritz-silverstein, D., et al. (2008). Handedness and cognitive function in older men and women: A comparison of methods. The Journal of Nutrition, Health & Aging, 12(9), 641–647.

    Google Scholar 

  • Smart, J. L., Jeffery, C., et al. (1980). A retrospective study of the relationship between birth history and handedness at six years. Early Human Development, 4(1), 79–88.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Tambs, K., Magnus, P., et al. (1987). Left-handedness in twin families: Support of an environmental hypothesis. Perceptual and Motor Skills, 64(1), 155–170.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Teng, E. L., Lee, P.-H., et al. (1976). Handedness in a chinese population: Biological, social, and pathological factors. Science, 193(4258), 1148–1150.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Thornton, A. (2001). The developmental paradigm, reading history sideways, and family change. Demography, 38(4), 449–465.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Thornton, A. (2005). Reading history sideways: The fallacy and enduring impact of the developmental paradigm on family life. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Thornton, A., & Achen, A. et al. (2010). Creating questions and protocols for an international study of ideas about development and family life. Survey Methods in Multinational, Multiregional, and Multicultural Contexts, Wiley, 59–74.

    Google Scholar 

  • Thornton, A., Binstock, G., et al. (2012a). International fertility change: New data and insights from the developmental idealism framework. Demography, 49(2), 677–698.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Thornton, A., Ghimire, D. J., et al. (2012b). The measurement and prevalence of an ideational model of family and economic development in nepal. Population Studies, 66(3), 329–345.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Triandis, H. C. (2001). Individualism-collectivism and personality. Journal of Personality, 69(6), 907–924.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Varnum, M. E. W., & Hampton, R. S. (2016). Cultures differ in the ability to enhance affective neural responses. Social Neuroscience, 1–10.

    Google Scholar 

  • Welzel, C. (2013). Freedom rising: Human empowerment and the quest for emancipation. New York: Cambridge University Press.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Yamamoto, Y., & Sonnenschein, S. (2016). Family contexts of academic socialization: The role of culture, ethnicity, and socioeconomic status. Research in Human Development, 13(3), 183–190.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Zhang, X., Holt, J. B., et al. (2014). Multilevel regression and poststratification for small-area estimation of population health outcomes: A case study of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease prevalence using the behavioral risk factor surveillance system. American Journal of Epidemiology, 179(8), 1025–1033.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Zhao, Y., Hu, Y., et al. (2014). Cohort profile: The china health and retirement longitudinal study (CHARLS). International Journal of Epidemiology, 43(1), 61–68.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Zhao, Y., Strauss, J., et al. (2013). The China health and retirement longitudinal study (CHARLS)—Users’ Guide for the 2011–2012 national baseline survey. Beijing: China, National School of Development, Peking University.

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgements

An earlier version of this article was presented at the 2017 annual meeting of the Population Association of America in Chicago, IL. The author thanks session participants for useful comments. The author also thanks Arland Thornton for his helpful feedback and N. E. Barr for her assistance in copy-editing. This study was supported by the National Institutes of Health under a center grant to the Population Studies Center at the University of Michigan (R24 HD041028) and a Mellon Diversity Fellowship awarded to the author at Queens College.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Sociology, Queens College - CUNY, 65-30 Kissena Blvd., Powdermaker Hall 252, Queens, NY, 11367, USA

    Hongwei Xu

Authors
  1. Hongwei Xu
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Hongwei Xu .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Landscape Architecture and Urban Planning, Texas A&M University, College Station, TX, USA

    Xinyue Ye

  2. School of Geography and Environment, Jiangxi Normal University, Nanchang, China

    Hui Lin

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 2020 The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG

About this chapter

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this chapter

Xu, H. (2020). Quantifying Spatial Variation in Aggregate Cultural Tolerance. In: Ye, X., Lin, H. (eds) Spatial Synthesis. Human Dynamics in Smart Cities. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-52734-1_7

Download citation

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-52734-1_7

  • Published:

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Cham

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-030-52733-4

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-030-52734-1

  • eBook Packages: Social SciencesSocial Sciences (R0)

Publish with us

Policies and ethics

Search

Navigation