Cultural Change in History
Paper Session
Sunday, Jan. 7, 2024 10:15 AM - 12:15 PM (CST)
- Chair: Jared Rubin, Chapman University
The Confederate Diaspora
Abstract
This paper shows how white migration out of the early postbellum South helped to diffuse and entrench Confederate culture across the United States at a critical juncture of westward expansion, postwar reconciliation, and nation building. These migrants laid the groundwork for Confederate memorialization and racial norms to become pervasive nationally in the early 20th century. Former Confederates, and especially those from slaveholding backgrounds, exacerbated racial violence, boosted new forms of racial exclusion in sundown towns, and compounded Black disadvantage out side the South. By sorting into positions of authority in local governance, former slaveholding elites played an outsized role in this process. Migrants transmitted Confederate nostalgia to their children and to their non-Southern neighbors. The legacy of the Confederate diaspora persists over the long run, perpetuating racial inequity in labor and housing markets as well as policing. Together, our findings shed new light on how migration helped shape the cultural and institutional foundations of racial animus across America.Economic Growth and the Rise of Individualism: Evidence from Europe 1700-2000
Abstract
This paper studies a period of considerable cultural change in Scandinavia: The rise of individualism in the 19th century. I document the rise of individualism with data from population censuses on naming and family practices. The data reveals a shift in focus from the collective to the individual in these practices. This shift was particularly pronounced in the second half of the century – a period that coincides with the Second Industrial Revolution. I proceed to examine the causes of this change. Specifically, I test the hypothesis that it was caused by economic modernization and development (the Modernization Hypothesis). To do this, I exploit the fact that Scandinavian modernization was driven by various types of technological advancement, in particular the railroads and hydropower. Using panel and instrumental variable strategies, I show that individualism grew in locations that gained access to railroads and hydropower.Industry and Identity: The Migration Linkage Between Economic and Cultural Change in 19th Century Britain
Abstract
We study the role of migration in changing the cultural map of England and Wales during the Second Industrial Revolution. In the latter half of the 19th century, Britain underwent a shift in the spatial pattern of economic activity and significant cultural convergence towards the culture of London. Using rich microdata on individuals’ names and migration decisions, we document that this homogenization varied across regions and that heterogeneity was mediated by migration patterns. To characterize the heterogeneity, we develop and estimate a quantitative spatial model in which individuals choose migration destinations and cultural identities driven by both economic and cultural considerations. The model indicates that industrialization dilutes local cultures in central hubs which attract migrants but preserves it in peripheral areas by reducing the incentives to out-migrate. Our results provide an explanation for the persistence of local identities in peripheral regions that develop economically and revise the prevailing notion in the modernization literature, which mainly emphasizes the homogenizing effect of labor migration.JEL Classifications
- N0 - General
- Z0 - General