Cultural Regions in the U.S.

Mariana Machová
November 15, 2022
•Geography of the U.S.
•Cultural regions in the historical context
•Urban vs. rural culture
•Regionalism and nationalism
•Regions and politics
•Mobility and migration
 Cultural Regions in the U.S.

• The US – big country, strong identification with the nation, patriotism, culturally
very much unified (compared to Europe), but still there are important regional
cultural differences
• The cultural regions in the U.S. do not necessarily correspond to states – usually
larger areas
• No one definitive division into regions – there are various possible ways to
approach the regional distinctions
• The differences between the regions are partly due to geography, but it is not the
major constitutive factor – cultural regions have deep historical roots.
• For a useful overview of the traditional cultural regions of the U.S., see
Britannica.com here.
 Division into Four Main Regions According to the U.S. Bureau of Census

Source: Vividmaps.com
 Historical Roots of the Traditional Regions

• Colonial past – different areas colonized by different European nations (English,

French, Dutch, Spanish…)
• Importance of the cultural background of the first settlers in a given area
• Role of religion (Puritans in New England, Mormons in Utah, Protestant
Evangelicals in the South, Quakers in Pennsylvania…)
• Later influence by immigration from different cultures, and also by internal
migration
• African cultural influence through slavery (the South)
• Relatively small cultural impact of the Native American cultures
 The Belt Regions
• another regional division – informal, regions not strictly defined

• “belts“ – geographic areas which share common features

• named after these features: weather (Sun Belt, Snow Belt), Crop (Corn
Belt), religion (Bible Belt), common disease (Stroke Belt), industry
(Manufacturing Belt or Rust Belt), ethnic group (Black Belt), etc.

• although these denominations can be vague and may imply inappropriate

stereotypization, they are often used to refer to certain areas (e.g., in
connection with the election)

• See an overview of the most important “belts” here.

 Regional Stereotypes

• Stereotypes about regions and states are popular and common

• Source of jokes (e.g. redneck jokes about poor, uneducated, racist

Southerners)

• May easily turn dangerous

New England foliage

Route 66 in Arizona

Cornfields in Iowa
Oak Alley Plantation, Louisiana
Stereotypes about the U.S. regions as mapped by YouGov.com here.
State stereotype map
by areavibes.com
See full article here.
 Urban vs Rural Regions

• until the beginning of the 20th century, the majority of population was rural,
farmers – rural lifestyle and its values is still a powerful myth in the U.S.
culture

• 1790s – about 90% of people lived on farms and ranches (compared to about
2% today)

• from 1870s (with industrialization) - massive movement to the cities

• 1920 – urban population was higher than rural for the first time

• today, a vast majority of Americans live in cities or suburbs

• cities sprawl our and coalesce into each other (megalopolis, conurbation)
Urban vs Rural Regions
Density of
Population
 Regionalism and Nationalism

• historically, in the early years of the independent USA, the regional loyalties
were stronger than the national ones

• Federalists (stronger federal government, national unity) vs. Anti-Federalists

(local governments) – their debate was fundamental for the ratification of the
Constitution and the Bill of Rights (1788)

• Civil War (1861–1865) – differences between two large regions, North vs.
South, irreconcilable regional differences, secession of the South
(Confederacy) from the Union

• Regional and national are not mutually exclusive, layers of identity

 Mobility and Migration
Mobility

• internal migration, migration within the U.S., both within individual regions, but also
between regions

• to a large extent goes against regionalism

• Part of the American myth – going after better

opportunities

• Westward expansion in the 19th century – the

largest internal migration (ca. 400 000 emigrants
travelled the Oregon Trail between 1830s and
1860s)

• 20th century, movement from rural to urban areas

 Internal Migration in the U.S. in decline

• Internal mobility was a growing

trend until 1980s

• It has been steadily declining since

then

• The reasons are not clear

(correlates with the aging of the
population)

• Theoretically, lower internal

migration would, in long term,
strengthen regional cultural
differences
 Mobility and Migration

Migration

• From other countries to the U.S.

• Essential for American national identity

• Connected to multiculturalism

• Migration from a particular culture to a particular area impacts the local

culture (see e.g. the Czech diaspora in NYC, Chicago, Texas, Nebraska; the Irish
in Boston; Cubans in Florida; the Chinatowns in the big cities, etc.)
 Regions and Politics in the U.S.
• regions/states have traditional partisan leaning: blue (Democrat) vs. red
(Republican) states, blue/red regions (e.g. both coasts Democrat, the
mountain regions of the West Republican)

• Swing states, battleground states – no clear leaning, crucial in the presidential

election: Arizona, Georgia, Florida, Iowa, Michigan, Minnesota, Nevada, New
Hampshire, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Texas, and Wisconsin

• Urban vs rural vote – cities vote for Democrats, rural areas for Republicans
(see analysis here)

• Different view suggests that the city/country division is not as important as

broader regional differences: see here.
2020 Presidential Election Results by County

Red: Donal Trump

Blue: Joe Biden

rural/urban divide visible

Colin Woodard: American Nations. A History of
the Eleven Rival Regional Cultures of North
America (2011)
• distinguishes eleven distinct regional cultures
within the U.S. and Canada

• historically conditioned

See a description of each of the eleven nations here.