Happiness and tolerance are linked in urban areas in China but associated with lower rates of radical innovation

Roy Y. J. Chua, Kenneth G. Huang, and Mengzi Jin, Mapping cultural tightness and its links to innovation, urbanization, and happiness across 31 provinces in China, PNAS April 2, 2019 116 (14) 6720-6725; first published March 4, 2019 https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1815723116

Significance

This study extends existing theories of cultural tightness by mapping cultural tightness and its relationship to innovation across 31 provinces in China. Consistent with prior research, we find that tighter provinces are associated with increased governmental control, constraints in daily life, religious practices, and exposure to threats. However, prior findings about cultural tightness do not fully apply to China. Departing from prior findings that tighter states are more rural, conservative, less creative, and less happy, cultural tightness in China is associated with urbanization; economic growth; better health; greater happiness; tolerance toward the lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender community; and gender equality. Provinces with tight cultures exhibit lower rates of substantive/radical innovation yet higher rates of incremental innovation.

Abstract

We conduct a 3-y study involving 11,662 respondents to map cultural tightness—the degree to which a society is characterized by rules and norms and the extent to which people are punished or sanctioned when they deviate from these rules and norms—across 31 provinces in China. Consistent with prior research, we find that culturally tight provinces are associated with increased governmental control, constraints in daily life, religious practices, and exposure to threats. Departing from previous findings that tighter states are more rural, conservative, less creative, and less happy, cultural tightness in China is associated with urbanization, economic growth, better health, greater tolerance toward the LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender) community, and gender equality. Further, analyzing about 3.85 million granted patents in China (1990–2013), we find that provinces with tighter cultures have lower rates of substantive/radical innovations yet higher rates of incremental innovations; individuals from culturally tighter provinces reported higher levels of experienced happiness.

On the highlighted stuff: It makes sense, no? If people are happy, why make big changes? Let's just tinker around with what we've got. But if people aren't happy, time to shake things up. This is consistent with the overall hypothesis that cultural evolution is driven by anxiety.