Research note: Distinction and integration: Sociodemographic determinants of newspaper reading in the USA and Germany, 1974-96

Who reads daily newspapers in the USA and in Germany? Despite a steady decline of newspaper reading, the sociodemographic determinants of newspaper readership have been surprisingly stable in both countries since the mid-1970s. A long-term comparative analysis of audience data suggests that newspapers serve different cultural functions: in the USA, they seem to be more and more an instrument of social distinction; in Germany they also maintain a function of social integration.