Value patterns in Europe and the United States: is there a transatlantic rift?

We examine empirical evidence for a widespread stereotypical assumption: the alleged cultural rift between Europe and the US. With respect to individualistic values emphasizing human self-expression, we find little division between Western Europe and North America. Rather, they are mostly unified as the individualistic, liberal and democratic West against the ‘rest’ of the world. By contrast, we observe a massive transatlantic separation regarding community norms. Despite internal divisions, the US is on average considerably more religious, rigid, and absolute in its moral values than any society of continental Western Europe. Moral value rigidity is not a reflection of ‘American ...