Peers and Culture

We analyze the evolution of culture when parents socialize children to the cultural variants that maximize child lifetime utility. Parents invest in cultural transmission by taking into account that children are also influenced by peers. We model the influence of peers by assuming that children obse...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:The Scandinavian journal of economics 2008-03, Vol.110 (1), p.73-92
Main Authors: Sáez-Martí, María, Sjögren, Anna
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Adopted children
Adoption
Children
Convergence
Cultural assimilation
Cultural diversity
Cultural pluralism
Cultural tradition
Cultural transmission
Culture
D10
Economic models
I20
J13
Multiculturalism & pluralism
Nurturance
oblique transmission
Parenting
Parents
Peer groups
Peers
Pluralism
Probability
Socialization
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Summary:We analyze the evolution of culture when parents socialize children to the cultural variants that maximize child lifetime utility. Parents invest in cultural transmission by taking into account that children are also influenced by peers. We model the influence of peers by assuming that children observe different cultural variants in their peer group, assign merit to them and adopt one variant, following a probabilistic adoption rule. We show that cultural diversity is sustainable even if all parents strive to transmit the same variant. We also show that a parental demand for cultural pluralism does not guarantee cultural diversity.
ISSN:0347-0520
1467-9442
1467-9442
DOI:10.1111/j.1467-9442.2008.00525.x