Politicultural Sorting: Mapping Ideological Differences in American Leisure and Consumption

Abstract

The United States is in the grips of severe political polarization, which gridlocks government and strains the national social fabric. In one major aspect of the phenomenon, American popular culture is fragmenting along ideological lines, a process herein termed “politicultural sorting.” Previous studies have examined the politicization of individual products and activities (e.g., fine art, television, and coffee), and theorized that culture is dividing in a neatly bipolar fashion. Using proprietary data from the National Consumer Survey, rarely seen in academia, this study advances existing scholarship in two regards: first, by eschewing a piecemeal approach and instead examining large clusters of popular culture relationally; and second, by questioning the dichotomous model that has thus far conceptualized the culture divide. Employing a combination of factor analyses and regressions, this project confirms the general concept of politicultural sorting, but finds that there are numerous archetypes within each ideological group, rather than a single manifestation. Compared with the conservative archetypes, liberal culture tends to be broader, more demographically diverse, edgier, and more embracing of exploratory play. Conservative clusters are more wholesome, overtly religious, and frequently evoke a sense of rugged individualism.