Misanthropolis: Do cities promote misanthropy?

We use pooled US General Social Survey (GSS, 1972-2016) data to study the effect of urbanism on misanthropy (distrust and dislike of humankind). Evolution (small group living), homophily or ingroup preference, and classic urban sociological theory suggest that misanthropy should develop in the most dense and heterogeneous places, such as large cities. Our results mostly agree: misanthropy is highest in cities with a population larger than several hundred thousand people, and the effect size of urbanicity is about half of that of income. Yet, the rural advantage is disappearing-from 1990 to 2010, misanthropy has increased fastest in the smallest places (<10k). One possible reason is that smaller places have been left behind, and rural resentment has increased. This is only the second quantitative study on the urbanicity-misanthropy nexus and more research is needed. Results may not be generalized outside of the US.