The Dynamics of the Global Matrix

In this chapter we present the results of our dynamic analysis of the global matrix, which we obtained by looking at trends in the coordinates of individual countries and their associated compositions over time, and by classifying countries according to the magnitude of their movement on the cultural map and the length of time they were observed through the E&WVS surveys. To foreshadow our results, we show that, as far as culture compositions based on Welzel meta-values are concerned, most countries have changed over time, some to a major extent, some to a lesser extent, some quickly, some more slowly but changed, nonetheless. Overall, there is a two-speed world, with several large countries such as China and India changing little over several decades, whereas several developed economies such as Japan and the USA change considerably, as do some developing countries such as Bangladesh and Ethiopia. The chapter is organized as follows. First, we provide the cultural map for 117 countries over the period from 1981 to 2021, which we derive from our multidimensional scaling analysis of 398 country-wave compositions. We then discuss how we measure five aspects of cultural change for the 92 countries where we have two or more waves of surveys, using the example of the country-wave closest to the centre of the map, namely Chile Wave 3, to illustrate how we present these results for an individual country. We also calibrate the meaning of our measure of cultural change by reference to the countries with the largest and median movements on the map, respectively Norway and New Zealand. Next, we provide an overview of the changes in our 92 country “world” before examining the trajectories of four major countries, namely China, India, Japan, and the United States. We then present our analyses of seven other countries that we selected to cover five regions of the globe, and to show diversity in the magnitude and direction of change. We close the chapter by summarizing the key takeaways from this dynamic analysis of the global matrix.