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April 22, 2026Political Psychology0 citationsOpen Access

Beyond WEIRD societies: Global social identifications across 45 countries and their socio‐cultural and economic predictors

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KHKatarzyna HamerMPMarta PenczekKMKarolina Marcinkowska

Key Points

  • This research aims to explore global social identifications (GSIs) across various countries and their socio-cultural predictors.
  • Data collected from 45 countries with a sample size of 9807, using a preregistered design.
  • Compared the strength of GSIs between countries and cultural clusters.
  • Explored associations with five cultural dimensions.
  • Relatively small cross-national differences in GSIs, with African and South-East Asian cultures showing stronger identifications.
  • GSIs were positively associated with in-group collectivism, survival values, and traditional values.
  • Higher GSIs found in countries with lower quality of life, less globalization, and younger demographics.

Abstract

Abstract In an increasingly globalized world challenged by multiple social problems, global social identifications (GSIs, e.g., with all humanity) are concepts of growing interest. Although such identifications can be affected by the cultural contexts in which they are manifested, research on them remains largely confined to Western, Educated, Industrialized, Rich, Democratic (WEIRD) societies. Using data collected in 45 countries ( N = 9807, preregistered), we compared the strength of three types of GSIs between countries and cultural clusters, and explored the possible role of five cultural dimensions. The results revealed relatively small cross‐national differences in GSIs overall, but African and South‐East Asian cultural clusters reported significantly stronger identifications than those from other regions, with India, South Africa, and Ghana scoring the highest. Contrary to our hypotheses, GSIs were positively associated with in‐group collectivism, survival values, and traditional values, while institutional collectivism was unrelated. As expected, humane orientation was positively related to most GSIs. Additional exploratory analyses showed higher GSIs in countries with a lower quality of life (broadly understood). GSIs were also more pronounced in less globalized, younger societies, with a higher proportion of men, fewer immigrants, and stronger diversity. Our study highlights the need to broaden research on GSIs beyond WEIRD contexts.

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Cite This Study

Hamer et al. (2026) studied this question.

synapsesocial.com/papers/69e866ad6e0dea528ddeb081https://doi.org/10.1111/pops.70134
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