Geographical Proximity and Cultural Closeness in Europe

This paper addresses the important question of cultural closeness (or distance) between subnational regions in and aims to understand why certain regions are culturally closer than others. It makes a contribution by adapting the contact hypothesis to the phenomenon of cultural closeness and exemplifying a mechanism called cultural blending. It argues that a high of contact between regions leads to cultural blending. Accordingly, interregional distance is assumed to be influenced by interregional contact frequency. We operationalize contact frequency by means of geographical proximity and culture via the value instrument developed by Shalom Schwartz. Using data drawn from the European Social Survey (2002–2018) and Eurostat dyadic regressions on the NUTS-II-level are conducted. Findings show that the geographical distance between subnational regions is undoubtedly associated with interregional cultural distances.