For over five decades, the landscape of popular music has quietly mirrored a profound cultural shift in self-expression across various societies. In a groundbreaking new study published in the open-access journal PLOS One, Marius Golubickis and colleagues explore the intriguing question: Are societies becoming more self-centric? Their research delves into the lyrics of the most popular songs from four distinct regions— the United States, Germany, Japan, and Hong Kong—spanning from 1970 to 2019, painting a revealing portrait of how language within music reflects broader societal trends.
At the heart of this investigation lies linguistic analysis, which examines the frequency of pronouns as markers of individualism versus collectivism in cultural products. Past research has indicated that Western popular songs, particularly from the United States, the United Kingdom, and Canada, exhibit an increasing use of first-person singular pronouns like “I,” “me,” and “mine.” These pronouns suggest heightened self-focus, in contrast to first-person plural pronouns such as “we” and “us,” which connote group orientation. This study by Golubickis and his team expands the analysis beyond Western contexts to include East Asian societies, where cultural norms traditionally emphasize group identity over individuality.
To conduct this cross-cultural comparison, the researchers utilized the software Linguistic Inquiry and Word Count (LIWC), an established tool for text analysis that quantifies the presence of various linguistic categories in a given corpus. The team extracted and analyzed lyrics from the top ten most popular songs each year in the examined countries. This method allowed them to detect nuanced trends in pronoun usage over a 50-year period, capturing potentially subtle shifts in self-expression through the medium of music.
A pivotal component of their analytical framework was mixed linear modeling, which enabled the researchers to assess temporal variations in pronoun frequency while controlling for confounding variables. This sophisticated statistical technique accounts for random effects, ensuring that results reflect genuine patterns rather than anomalies caused by outliers or external factors. Such rigor bolsters confidence in the conclusion that changes in linguistic markers within songs correspond to broader societal dynamics.
The findings reveal a striking dichotomy: in the United States and Germany, both culturally individualistic nations, there has been a marked increase in the use of self-focused language in popular music over the decades studied. This upward trend highlights a growing prominence of personal identity and introspection within these societies’ cultural artifacts. Conversely, in Japan and Hong Kong, societies with stronger collectivist traditions, the prevalence of first-person singular pronouns remained relatively stable, indicating a resistance to linguistic shifts toward individualism in popular music.
These results underscore how cultural worldviews shape not only social behavior but also the modes of self-expression captured in art. The lack of a global uniform trend toward self-centrism challenges assumptions that individualism is an inevitable consequence of modernization or globalization. Instead, it points to the resilience of cultural values, which continue to influence how language manifests in popular media.
Moreover, the study casts popular songs as “cultural time capsules,” encapsulating the evolving narratives and identities of their respective societies. As musical hits resonate widely among audiences, linguistic patterns within lyrics provide a subtle yet powerful barometer of social change. By tracking these patterns, researchers glean insights into how communities negotiate selfhood amid shifting cultural landscapes.
Importantly, the authors emphasize the necessity of cultural sensitivity in interpreting global trends. They caution against generalizing findings derived from Western contexts to the rest of the world without accounting for regional specificities. This call for nuance is particularly relevant in an era of rapid cross-cultural exchanges, where media transcends geographic boundaries but remains embedded in distinct cultural frameworks.
The implications of this research extend beyond music, inviting scholars to explore other forms of media and communication for evidence of cultural variation in self-expression. Future studies might examine books, films, social media, and other textual or visual materials to construct a comprehensive map of self-centric tendencies across societies. Incorporating factors such as genre differentiation within music could also illuminate how diverse audience segments internalize and propagate these linguistic trends.
As we consider the dynamic interplay between culture and language, Golubickis et al.’s study offers a robust methodological template. By combining automated text analysis with rigorous statistical modeling across multiple national contexts, their research bridges linguistic anthropology, psychology, and cultural studies, providing a rich interdisciplinary perspective on evolving social values.
In essence, the trajectory of pronoun use in popular music lyrics serves as a proxy for understanding the complex negotiation between individual identity and collective belonging in a changing world. In the Western sphere, increasing prominence of “I” reflects growing cultural endorsement of personal narratives, while the relative linguistic stability in East Asian regions illustrates enduring collective orientations. This nuanced snapshot affirms that the story of human selfhood is far from monolithic and continues to be written in diverse cultural scripts.
Subject of Research: People
Article Title: Are societies becoming more self-centric? Evidence from five decades of popular music spanning three continents
News Publication Date: 24-Jun-2026
Web References:
https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0349765
References:
Golubickis M, Jalalian P, Masroujah LS, Selvaraj ES, Sharma Y, Seow SH, et al. (2026) Are societies becoming more self-centric? Evidence from five decades of popular music spanning three continents. PLoS One 21(6): e0349765.
Image Credits: Golubickis et al., 2026, PLOS One, CC-BY 4.0
Keywords: Self-centrism, Pronoun Use, Popular Music, Cultural Differences, Linguistic Inquiry, Individualism, Collectivism, Cross-Cultural Analysis, Text Mining, Statistical Modeling
