Internal Empires I: Social Institutions of the Frontier

Roberto Foa (), Anna Nemirovskaya () and Elena Mostovova ()
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Roberto Foa: Department of Government, Harvard University. 1737 Cambridge St, Cambridge, MA 02138.
Anna Nemirovskaya: Laboratory for Comparative Social Research, National Research University Higher School of Economics. Vasilievsky Ostrov 3, Line 10, room 308, St Petersburg, Russia
Elena Mostovova: Laboratory for Comparative Social Research, National Research University Higher School of Economics. Vasilievsky Ostrov 3, Line 10, room 308, St Petersburg, Russia.

HSE Working papers from National Research University Higher School of Economics

Abstract: One of the attributes most consistently highlighted in the literature on frontier society is the tendency to spontaneous social organisation. However, despite the resilience of the ‘frontier thesis’ within sociology and political science, it has not been subject to a rigorous empirical examination. Does it constitute a description of the social norms and institution of the western United States, or is it one manifestation of a more general ‘frontier phenomenon’, found in other times and places? In order to answer these questions, this article examines data on the nature of social relations in frontier zones in four countries: Brazil, Russia, Canada and the United States. Taking a wide range of survey items, we find that higher levels of voluntary activity, social trust, tolerance of outgroups, and civic protest are distinctive features of frontier life, and not simply a feature of the American historical experience.

Keywords: Social institutions; social capital; settlement patterns; historical institutionalism; frontier thesis (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: N90 R23 Z13 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 44 pages
Date: 2013
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-cis, nep-evo, nep-his and nep-soc
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Published in WP BRP Series: Sociology / SOC, June 2013, pages 1-44

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