Does more democracy encourage individualism?: evidence from women’s suffrage in the US

Abstract

This study examines the relationship between two key factors in modern society: democracy and individualism. We hypothesize that extending democratic rights promotes individualism, which is supported by historical evidence from women’s suffrage in the US. Exploiting temporal variations in the passage of suffrage laws across states, border-county-pair analysis shows that the passage of women’s suffrage fostered individualism, as evidenced by an increase in the prevalence of uncommon names. This relationship was more pronounced in areas with higher proportions of adult white women, who were the primary beneficiaries of suffrage extension. Falsification tests confirm that the observed increase in individualism was rooted in the expansion of democratic rights, not merely in advancement of women’s rights.