  Following Axelrod's model of cultural dissemination, formal computational
studies of cultural influence have suggested that more contact between
geographically distant regions may increase overall cultural homogeneity and
reduce societal polarization. In the present paper, we show that two plausible
modifications of Axelrod's original mechanism turn the effect of range of
communication upside-down. We assume a continuous rather than a nominal state
space and we add the negative side of social influence, heterophobia and
rejection. Computational analyses of the resulting model demonstrate that now a
larger range of contact can increase rather than decrease the extent of
polarization in the population. Further experiments identify the window of
conditions under which the effect obtains.
