Values in Serbia in second age of modernity

Abstract

The starting point for this article were the implications of Inglehart’s theory of post-materialism and the revised modernization theory, as well as the data from the fourth wave of World Values Study. On the basis of these, the aim of this article was to compare the values which were characteristic for Serbia at the end of the last millennium with the values of the majority of European countries. Using the methodology practiced in the analysis of the same type, it was shown where we should place Serbia among these European countries. The main characteristics of values in Serbia are the following: the great amount of risk and uncertainty, low levels of trust in others and institutions and widespread "materialistic" values. The combination of these indicators puts Serbia in the group of under-developed ex-comminist countries undergoing the process of transition and early democratization.