Across-Time Change and Variation in Cultural Tightness-Looseness

PLoS One. 2015 Dec 18;10(12):e0145213. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0145213. eCollection 2015.

Abstract

Cultural tightness-looseness, a dimension which describes the strength, multitude, and clarity of social norms in a culture, has proved significant in explaining differences between cultures. Although several studies have compared different cultures on this domain, this study is the first that targets both within-country differences and across-time variation in tightness-looseness. Using data from two nationally representative samples of Estonians, we found that the general tightness level had changed over a period of 10 years but the effect size of the change was small. A significant within country variance in 2002 had disappeared by 2012. Our results suggest that tightness-looseness, similarly to cultural value orientations, is a relatively stable and robust characteristic of culture-that is, change indeed takes place, but slowly. Future studies about across-time change and within-country variance in tightness-looseness should target more culturally diverse and socially divided societies.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Adult
  • Cross-Cultural Comparison*
  • Estonia
  • Female
  • Humans
  • Male
  • Middle Aged
  • Surveys and Questionnaires

Grants and funding

This study was supported by institutional research funding (IUT2-13) from the Estonian Ministry of Education and Science. Anu Realo was supported by a grant from the Netherlands Institute for Advanced Study (NIAS) during the writing of this article. The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.