Cultural Predictors of Public Opinion on Prostitution: A Cross-National Analysis.

This paper applies recent developments in comparative cultural sociology to the problem of public opinion on prostitution across nations. Specifically, it tests a hypothesis that variation in the degree of support for prostitution among the world's nations is a consequence of the strength of survivalist culture. That is, the greater the economic insecurity, the greater the intolerance of out groups and nontraditional ideas including the acceptability of prostitution. Methods: data are from the second wave of the World Values Survey. They are based on 39,765 interviews conducted on representative samples in each of 36 nations. Interviewing was performed by the World Gallop Organization. An index of survivalist culture is taken from previous work in comparative cultural sociology (Inglehart 1990;2000). The acceptability of prostitution is measured by the extent to which individuals approved of prostitution (1=always wrong through 10=always right). Controls are incorporated from social learning theory, control theory, strain theory, and demographic variables. Results. A bi-level linear model found that individual level survivalist culture was the single most important predictor of prostitution acceptability. The mean level of survivalist culture in a nation also had a significant bearing on individual level approval of prostitution. Conclusions. The investigation is the first to apply a major development in comparative cultural sociology to the specific problem of prostitution acceptability. Individuals in nations with relatively high in survivalist culture are less approving of suicide. These nations tend to be the less developed nations, as predicted. ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]