The geography of music preferences

Rentfrow, P., Mellandar, C., Florida, R., Hracs, B.J. and Potter, J. (2013) The geography of music preferences (Martin Prosperity Institute Working Papers) Toronto, CA. Martin Prosperity Institute

Abstract

Music spans many styles and genres, and previous research has identified five major categories of music preferences: mellow, unpretentious, sophisticated, intense, and contemporary. Our research examines the geographic variation in these five categories of music preferences and the socio-economic factors that shape them. Our research uses factor analysis to plot music preferences across the fifty U.S. states, and employs bivariate correlation analyses to relate the music-preference factor scores with socio-economic structures, personality variables and other factors across states. We find significant geographic variation across certain types of music preferences. We also find that the geographic structure of music preference is related to key socioeconomic variables such as income, education, and occupation, as well as political preference expressed as voting patterns

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Contributors

Author: B.J. Hracs

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