Regional differences in cultural participation in the United States and Europe

Cultural participation is socio-demographically stratified. However, the link between one’s region of residence and their cultural participation is understudied. We study this link in five countries: Denmark, Finland, France, the United Kingdom, and the United States. Cultural policies are typically constructed to level regional differences in cultural participation, so we chose the countries in our analysis to represent different well-known cultural policy models. Our results show that differences in cultural participation linked to one’s region of residence emerge in all countries we study, but these differences are somewhat diminished after other socio-demographic factors are controlled. The regional variations in participation are different for different cultural activities and vary by country. Particularly, the regional differences prevail in the United States and the United Kingdom, while they are diminished in Denmark, Finland, and France. We discuss our results in light of the cultural policy models to which the countries we study belong.