Culture and competition: A critical test of homophily and distinction explanations for cultural niches

Abstract

Why do different kinds of people like different kinds of culture? I examine two answers to this question: the homophily model and the distinction model. These models are alternative explanations for the finding that different cultural tastes and practices are concentrated within different sociodemographic segments of society. To determine which model is the preferred explanation, I identify conflicting predictions generated by the models. The models imply different ecological processes. The homophily model predicts that cultural forms compete with each other for people: People are a scarce resource on which cultural forms depend; cultural forms are not a scarce resource for people. The distinction model predicts a dual ecology: Cultural forms compete with each other for people, and people compete with each other for cultural forms. Empirical tests with 1993 General Social Survey data support the homophily model and disconfirm the distinction model.