Ethnicity and Contemporary American Culture: A Meta-Analytic Investigation of Horizontal–Vertical Individualism–Collectivism

Abstract

The United States is one of the most culturally diverse societies. Research has documented numerous differences in cultural orientations across U.S. ethnic/racial groups. But with continual intergroup interactions and increasing influxes of non–European Americans, it remains unclear to what extent these cultural differences persist in the long term. Via meta-analysis, we compared African, Asian, Latino, and European Americans on horizontal–vertical individualism–collectivism. There were no ethnic/racial differences in the mean scores of both variants of collectivism, although European Americans were higher in vertical individualism than African Americans and Latino Americans. Longitudinal analyses pointed to evidence of a convergence of cultural orientations, but analyses of the intercorrelations between the four dimensions of individualism–collectivism revealed noticeable group differences. The discussion elaborates on processes that may promote cultural convergence. Remarks are also made with regard to the persistent cultural, political, and economic group differences that are evident in the meanings and compatibility of different value dimensions.