European Values Study Data Research Articles

Polarization of gender role attitudes across Europe

ABSTRACT Value polarization is one of the key factors in societal development. This research focuses on whether opinions concerning gender roles in the domestic and public spheres are polarized in European societies, a topic still under-investigated. Based on the fifth wave of European Values Study data (2017–2020), the study shows that gender role attitudes in the domestic sphere are more polarized than those in the public sphere. Polarization by education, level of income, migration background, and degree of religiosity is stronger for gender role attitudes in the domestic sphere, whereas polarization by gender is stronger for gender role attitudes in the public sphere. Both gender role attitudes in the public and domestic spheres are most strongly polarized by education. At the same time, belonging to a social group with higher education, higher income, and lower religiosity can promote more progressive views towards gender roles. Opinions in Eastern European countries tend to seem more polarized than in Western European countries, even if with some exceptions. In countries with a higher level of gender equality, the level of polarization is a bit lower, while in countries where there is a remarkable rise of anti-gender narratives, opponent and conflictual views are higher.

Perceptions of russians and europeans about gender roles in the context of the problem of gender inequality: a comparative analysis on the data of the European values study (EVS)

The article covers the study of ideas about gender roles in the context of the problem of gender inequality in European countries based on the data of the international sociological project European Values Study. Despite the changes that have taken place in the world over the past half century in the main areas of society, inequality between men and women is still part of global social inequality and remains an important problem of the modern world. Achieving gender equality in the modern world is recognised as a global priority. The purpose of the article was to compare the ideas of men and women about gender roles in Russia and Europe and to identify the factors influencing these ideas. The paper examines the relationship between respondents' perceptions of gender roles and gender inequality from the point of view of the gender-role approach, highlights the relationship between these perceptions and the level of gender inequality in various European countries, clarifies the factors influencing the level of patriarchy/egalitarianness of respondents' perceptions of gender roles. The results of the main international studies of gender inequality are also systematised, the results of the main modern sociological studies of ideas about gender roles are described. The author focuses on the sociological study of the problem, as well as on the quantitative analysis of data. The study shows that in most European countries the level of gender inequality coincides with the level of patriarchal ideas about gender roles. Women in general have more egalitarian ideas about gender roles than men. Higher education, paid work, high levels of qualifications and income increase the likelihood of egalitarian perceptions of gender roles. A high level of churchgoing, the presence of children and a registered marriage increase the likelihood of patriarchal ideas about gender roles.

Union membership and the willingness to prioritize environmental protection above growth and jobs: A multi‐level analysis covering 22 European countries

AbstractThis article contributes to debates about trade unions and the environment by studying differences between union members and non‐members when asked to prioritize between environmental protection and jobs and economic growth. Differences are explored in a multi‐level framework based on European Values Study data from 2017, covering 22 European countries. The empirical results show that members are more pro‐environmentally inclined than non‐members. This is demonstrated to be attributable to a large extent to the fact that members tend to be more left‐leaning politically, a disposition which tends to be associated positively with environmental concern. While those employed in transport and manufacturing generally are least likely to be willing to prioritize environmental protection, membership has the most pronounced positive effect in this group. The tendency for members to be more pro‐environmentally inclined is consistent across the studied countries. The article also shows that both members and non‐members in countries with higher collective bargaining coverage tend to be more pro‐environmentally inclined. Implications of the findings are discussed in terms of the political nature of collective interest representation with which unions are concerned, broader debates about union renewal and the importance of unions in garnering workers’ support for a greener economy.

A community of shared values? Dimensions and dynamics of cultural integration in the European Union

ABSTRACT The series of recent crises (EURO, refugees, backsliding, Brexit) challenge the self-portrayal of the European Union (EU) as a community of shared values. Against this backdrop, we analyse European Values Study data from 1990 till 2020 to assess the level and change in publics’ acceptance of the EU’s officially propagated values: personal freedom, individual autonomy, social solidarity, ethnic tolerance, civic honesty, gender equality and liberal democracy. We find that EU publics support these values strongly and increasingly over time. The EU-member publics are also remarkably distinct culturally from Eastern European non-EU-nations, especially concerning individual freedoms and gender equality. Simultaneously, however, member nations internalize EU-values at different speeds – alongside traditional religious fault lines that continue to differentiate Europe – in the following order from fastest to slowest: (1) Protestant, (2) Catholic, (3) Ex-communist and (4) Orthodox countries. In conclusion, the EU writ large evolves into a distinct value-sharing community at different speeds.

Immigration and the sociocultural divide in Central and Eastern Europe: Stasis or evolution?

AbstractImmigration has historically been of low salience in Central and Eastern Europe. Yet, the region has consistently higher levels of ethnocentrism than the rest of Europe. Scholars argue that the East's limited politicization of immigration is due to its status as a region of emigration and the presence of ethnic minority ‘others’. I argue that this is changing. The politicization of the European refugee crisis by domestic elites has begun to refocus the sociocultural dimension on the immigration issue. Using structural equation models, I compare European Values Study data from 2008 and 2017 across 10 East European EU member states. I find evidence that traditionalist attitudes are more strongly related to anti‐immigration attitudes since the crisis, particularly for those who are interested in politics. Further, immigration attitudes are polarizing across the GAL‐TAN dimension and by education. Hence, immigration is bolstering a pre‐existing, socially structured divide around both nationalist and traditionalist values.

Religious and secular value divides in Western Europe: A cross-national comparison (1981–2008)

Studies on cultural divisions in Western European politics typically combine two different value divides. The first divide is moral traditionalism versus progressiveness, which pits the religious and the secular against each other on matters of procreation, family and gender roles. The second one is authoritarianism versus libertarianism, which captures the opposition between the high- and low-educated about basically secular attitudes towards matters of immigration and law and order. Since the first divide is religiously inspired and the second one is basically secular, this article systematically distinguishes between them and studies whether secularization in Western Europe affects them differently. We perform multilevel regression analysis using European Values Study data (four waves, 1981–2008) for 17 Western European countries. Our findings show that the divide between the religious and the secular about moral issues declines with secularization, while the divide between the high- and low-educated about secular issues becomes wider.

Disentangling varieties of French nationalism, why does it matter?

National identity claims have taken a growing importance in the French political landscape these last decades. While representations of French national identity have long been scrutinised from an elite perspective, much less is known about “What is it to be French?” from a citizen’s perspective. This article aims at filling this gap. Using the European Values Study data, from 1981 to 2018, it first offers a general measure of change in French people national claims during that period. Building on a classification, it then proposes to disentangle five different types of French nationalism. Finally, the article tests the explanatory power of these types of nationalism on support for attitudes and a few policy preferences which involve representations of the in-group and the out-group such as immigration and solidarity policies.

Global cultural zones the empirical way: value structure of cultural zones and their relationship with democracy and the communist past

The paper empirically identifies the world’s cultural zones, comprised of the countries with the distinctive patterns of values, and determines their relationship with the country’s communist past and current state of democracy. The analysis is based on the countries’ average values on the two main dimensions of cross-cultural variations: the traditional versus secular-rational and the survival versus self-expression values. The World Values Survey and European Values Study data from 101 countries were used. The K-means method of cluster analysis and the Variance Ration Criterion for determining the final number of clusters were performed. The solution with three clusters appeared as the most appropriate and theoretically meaningful, representing three broad cultural value syndromes. The first value syndrome was defined by low self-expression and high secular-rational values (the zone of secularized authority), the second one by low secular-rational and low self-expression values (the zone of traditional authority), while the third was characterized by high values on both value dimensions (the zone of emancipation). The countries’ cluster membership is highly correlated with the (non-)communist past and the level of socioeconomic development. The countries in three cultural zones significantly differ in terms of the state of democracy: democracy is more fully developed in the countries in the cultural zone of emancipation, and the least developed in the countries with the prevailing traditional authority cultural outlook.

Effects of EU Expansion on Migrants Employment and Income: A Natural Experiment

With the European Union expansion in 2004 providing a unique form of natural experiment, this paper uses the European Values Study data and the difference-in-differences estimation to identify causal effects of the EU expansion on migrants’ employment chances and income. Estimation results suggest that the expansion has increased migrants’ employment chances and income. The probability of having a full-time employment for a male migrant in the postexpansion period increases by about 7.7 percentage points. The increase in income for male migrants is higher than that of their female counterparts after the expansion. When the income distribution is broken down into quantiles, estimation results show that male migrants at lower ends of the income distribution experience higher increase in income. At the highest end of the income distribution, there is no evidence that the expansion has any significant effect on either male or female migrants´ income.

Examination of the structure of the traditional/secular-rational and survival/self-expression value dimensions in the model of Ronald Inglehart: The case of Serbia

The paper examines applicability of Inglehart?s model of dimensions of traditional/secular-rational values and survival/self expresion values, based on European Values Study data, conducted in Serbia in 2008. Dimensions of values are extracted by applying nonlinear principal component analysis, with asigning ordinal level of analysis. We present three-dimensional solution which separates dimension of survival/self expresion values into two dimensions. The deviations from the two-dimensional model were interpreted in accordance with the theory of revised modernization and thesis about value change in dependance of sociocultural paths of developement of society.

Trade Union Trade-Offs: Unions, Voters, and the Rise of Right-Wing Populism

Trade union membership in European Union member states has been in decline for decades, which has many concerned about the future of workers’ rights. While existing work examines the reasons for this decline, my research shifts the focus from union density to the functions unions serve and how these functions affect and are affected by changing electoral behavior. I examine the rise of right-wing populist movements in Europe and how these movements and the challenges today’s labor unions face can be traced to the same underlying forces. I argue that, as the relevance of trade unions declines for blue-collar workers, support for right-wing movements increases. I test this claim with the help of statistical analyses of European Values Study data. I find preliminary support for my hypothesis, and suggest how this can inform our responses to the rise of populism in Europe.

Model Based Composite Indicators: New Developments in Partial Least Squares-Path Modeling for the Building of Different Types of Composite Indicators

Composite indicators (CIs), in the social sciences, are used more and more for measuring very complex phenomena as the poverty, the progress and the well-being. Using an approach Model Based in to build CIs, instead of an approach Data Driven, it is possible to consider the role (formative and reflective) of the manifest variables (MVs) and to model the relationships among the CIs. In this article, we begin introducing structural equation modeling (SEM) as a tool for building Model Based CIs. Secondly, among the several methods developed to estimate SEM, we show Partial Least Squares Path Modeling (PLS-PM), due to the key role that estimation of the latent variables (i.e. the CIs) plays in the estimation process. Moreover, we present some recent developments in PLS-PM for the treatment of non metric data, hierarchical data, longitudinal data and multi-block data. Finally, we demonstrate how these recent developments can strongly help in the building of CIs. It is easy to realize, for example, that as a consequence of considering nominal and ordinal data, the knowledge about a phenomenon synthesized by a CI is considerably extended and improved especially for operational use. In order to highlight the potentiality of the proposed approach, the construction of a CI is discussed. In particular, a CI of Social Cohesion, developed by using European Values Study data, will be described in detail.

Participation in social protests: comparing Turkey with EU patterns

Although Turkey is no stranger to protest events, there has been only limited research into why some people participate in protests, such as demonstrations and boycotts, while others do not. Using the 2008 European Values Study data, this paper investigates how socio-economic and demographic variables, political attitudes and orientations, social capital and religiosity explain variations in the likelihood of engaging in unconventional political activity in Turkey. Comparing results for Turkey with results for the European Union (EU), the present study finds that traditional explanations of participation in unconventional forms of political action in stable democracies do not seem to explain participation in Turkey. Education, institutional trust, democratic satisfaction and religious beliefs are the only factors that shape non-traditional participation in Turkey. Socio-economic and demographic characteristics, political attitudes and orientations, social capital and religious beliefs explain most of the variation in unconventional activism in the EU.

The social legitimacy of international organisations: Interest representation, institutional performance, and confidence extrapolation in the United Nations

AbstractSocial legitimacy is central to the effectiveness of international organisations (IOs). Yet, so far, we have little systematic knowledge about what drives citizens to support or oppose IOs. In this article, we isolate and assess three alternative explanations of social legitimacy in global governance, privileging interest representation, institutional performance, and confidence extrapolation. We test these theories in a multilevel analysis of citizen confidence in the United Nations (UN) using World Values Survey and European Values Study data, supplemented by contextual measures. The results grant support to the arguments that institutional performance and confidence extrapolation shape popular confidence in the UN, while offering little support for the explanation of interest representation. These findings challenge the predominant understanding that more democratic procedures lead to greater social legitimacy for IOs. Instead, the UN case suggests that the social legitimacy of IOs is based primarily on the organisations' capacity to deliver, as well as on citizens' general confidence in political institutions, which IOs may have little to do with and can do little to change.

What Determines Religious and Racial Prejudice in Europe? The Effects of Religiosity and Trust

This paper analyzes the effects of different dimensions of religiosity and trust on religious and racial prejudice in Europe. The sample is based on 37 European countries that are current or potential members of the European Union (EU). Using multi-level logistic regression modeling and the latest wave from the European Values Study data, we test the effects of both individual and country-level variables. Our results suggest that religious particularism is correlated with more religious and racial prejudice. Doctrinal belief and individual spirituality are both correlated with less religious prejudice only. Nonreligious individuals have the highest religious prejudice compared to members of religious denominations. Individual and country-level generalized trust, as well as trust in the EU, are all negatively correlated with religious and racial prejudice.

Measuring the Europeanization of Everyday Life: Three New Indices and an Empirical Application

ABSTRACTThis article seeks to conceptually clarify the measurement of Europeanization from a transactional perspective. Following Karl Deutsch, we regard cross-border practices and sense of community as constitutive for an emerging European society. But we critically reassess how this approach has been put into empirical practice by contemporary scholars. Typically, too much attention is paid to absolute Europeanization, and too little to relative Europeanization. In order to properly investigate the European society as situated between the nation-state and the world society, we argue that Europeanization involves both national openness (the salience of Europe compared to the nation-state) and external closure (the salience of Europe compared to the world). Three indices are suggested to capture relative Europeanization and its major components. Recent Eurobarometer and European Values Study data on practices and attitudes of EU citizens is used to illustrate our approach empirically. The results demonstrate that external closure adds a new layer of information for understanding everyday life Europeanization. We also find a bifurcation between practices for which Europe is the more relevant reference frame (as compared to the world) and attitudes for which it is not.

Relationships Between Religion and Intolerance Towards Muslims and Immigrants in Europe: A Multilevel Analysis

This paper examines relationships between religiosity and intolerance towards Muslims and immigrants among Europeans living in non-Muslim majority countries by applying multilevel modeling to European Values Study data (wave four, 2010 ). Thus relationships across 44 national contexts are analyzed. The analysis found large between-country differences in the overall levels of intolerance towards immigrants and Muslims. Eastern Europeans tend to be more intolerant than Western Europeans. In most countries Muslims are less accepted than immigrants,—a finding which reflects that in post-9/11 Europe Islamophobia is prevalent and many still see Muslims with suspicion. A key result is that believing matters for the citizen's attitudes towards Muslims and immigrants. Across Europe, traditional and modern fuzzy beliefs in a Higher Being are strongly negatively related to intolerance towards immigrants and Muslims, while fundamentalism is positively related to both targets of intolerance. Religious practice and denominational belonging on the other hand matter far less for the citizen's propensity to dislike the two out-groups. With the only exception of non-devout Protestants who do not practice their religion, members of religious denominations are not more intolerant than non-members. The findings are valid for the vast majority of countries although countries differ in the magnitude of the effects.

The (Non-) Effect of Unemployment Benefits: Variations in the Effect of Unemployment on Life-Satisfaction Between EU Countries

A negative effect of unemployment on subjective well-being has been demonstrated in many studies casting substantial doubt about assumptions of decisions of individuals to choose unemployment voluntarily as the utility-maximising option. These studies have been extended to take into account national-level context factors which have been shown to moderate the relationship between unemployment and life-satisfaction. So far most studies focussed mainly on economic indicators, although demographic and cultural differences between countries also affect how unemployment is perceived. An important variable that is not included in the majority of proper multilevel studies is the extent of unemployment benefits. Traditional micro-economic approaches argue that more extensive provisions should reduce the cost of unemployment and therefore reduce the motivation to regain employment—reflected in a reduction of the negative impact of unemployment. This study investigates this claim by using European Values Study data from all European Union countries and Norway as well as harmonised macroeconomic statistics from Eurostat. It finds that the effect of unemployment on life-satisfaction is indeed moderated by economic and demographic national-level factors, but not by unemployment benefits. To what extent unemployment reduces life-satisfaction varies greatly between countries, but appears to not be influenced by the extent of state unemployment provisions.

Permissiveness Toward Divorce: The Influence of Divorce Experiences in Three Social Contexts

In this study, we assess whether divorce experiences in three social contexts shape individual’s permissiveness toward divorce. Using European Values Study data from 44 countries, we find that—net of personal divorce experience—parental divorce before the age of 18 (socialization context); parental divorce after the age of 18, divorce of child, and divorce of relatives (context in adult life); and country’s divorce rate (national context) are related to more permissiveness toward divorce. Value climates in these three contexts clearly mediate the relationships between experiences and attitudes, but parental divorce before the age of 18, divorce of child, and divorce of relatives still are independently and positively related to permissiveness toward divorce. These findings suggest that divorce experiences affect pro-divorce attitudes on top of prevailing value climates in social contexts that are relatively close to the individual. Finally, robustness tests show that personal divorce is not only an important determinant of pro-divorce attitudes, the role played by divorce experiences in the three contexts also depends on being divorced or not. Moreover, singles are more strongly affected by their surrounding contexts than people with a stable relationship.

Individualization and Social Solidarity in Post-Communist Countries: Do Old Divisions Hold?

Social solidarity covers the effective principles of social organization in a given society. Such principles are manifested in formal and informal practices and shape the social contract behind the welfare state, which is the most important form of organized (formal) solidarity today (Koster 2007). By contrast, informal mechanisms of social solidarity rely on the networks of friends and family which play a crucial role as a resource for economic assistance and security when state-provided social care fails.The communist redistribution system constituted a “communist welfare state” of its own (Deacon 2000) and that post-communist development was a transformation of the welfare regime rather than creating it “from scratch”. In a cross-European comparison, Fenger (2007) discovered three post-communist welfare regimes that were not resembling three types devised by Esping-Andersen (1990). Moreover, the theory of postmaterialist values (Inglehart 1997) and the adjoining theory of self-expression values (Inglehart & Welzel 2005) that otherwise provide a breakthrough perspective on explaining how high levels of individualism and diversity in modern societies coexist with high levels of altruism and wide concern about fellow citizens, produced much worse results in explaining social solidarity in eastern Europe, especially on the individual level (Janmaat & Braun 2009).The research question of this paper is what imprint the post-communist condition leaves on the patterns of social solidarity in European countries. Additionally, I inquire whether post-soviet or post-socialist status of the country matters and then discuss how these findings correspond to previous research. Multilevel analysis is used to model the data of European Values Study (2008) that covers 47 European countries, including more than 20 countries with post-communist history.It was demonstrated that 1) postmaterialists in post-communist countries score lower than western Europe on both family solidarity and redistribution, which may be attributed both to historical trauma of communism and to the average economic condition of post-communist countries (thus, a different meaning of “postmaterialist” indicators in these countries); 2) there are interesting gender differences in post-soviet and post-socialist (Central European) countries which should be further explained.