World Values Survey Research Articles

Social Cohesion in Different Periods of the Pandemic: What Works in Reducing COVID-19 Mortality

Abstract Background Inconsistent results were reported regarding the effects of social cohesion dimensions on COVID-19 mortality rate (MR). Most studies have indicated that trust in civil services, but not participating in social activities, reduces COVID-19 MR, possibly because of the highly contagious nature of this disease. In this study, we investigated how the effects of various dimensions of social cohesion on COVID-19 MR vary across different phases of the pandemic. Methods This longitudinal study was conducted using data from 86 countries that participated in the 2017-2020 World Values Survey. The measures of social cohesion were identified by aggregating survey responses to the country level. COVID-19 MR was calculated-using data from the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control-separately for three distinct periods during the pandemic (January 2021-June 2022). A factor analysis was conducted to identify the dimensions of social cohesion, and negative binomial regression models were constructed to analyze data for each period. Results The factor analysis revealed three dimensions of social cohesion: social participation and inclusion, health service equality, and trust in civil services and democracy. Our findings suggest that each dimension of social cohesion uniquely affected COVID-19 outcomes in different periods of the pandemic. Trust in civil services and a positive attitude toward democracy are strongly associated with a low COVID-19 MR. However, this association was observed only in the early and middle stages of the pandemic. By contrast, our study demonstrated that in the late stage of the pandemic, increased social participation and inclusion helped combat COVID-19. Conclusions This study underscores the importance of collective cohesion and solidarity in mobilizing public responses against pandemic situations. This study emphasizes that preventive or regulatory interventions should be tailored to different phases of a pandemic. Key messages • COVID-19 mortality rate was negatively associated with trust in civil services during the early two periods and with social participation and social inclusion during the late period of the pandemic. • This study emphasizes that preventive or regulatory interventions should be tailored to different phases of a pandemic.

Gender emancipation and its impact on happiness: An examination of the happy wife, happy life formula

The adage "happy wife, happy life" implies that women's gender emancipation could contribute to the overall societal quality of life. However, it raises at least two questions: Does advancing women's rights lead to increased happiness for women? Is it possible that advancing women’s rights occurs at the expense of men? The study examines the relationship between gender emancipation and happiness, aiming to determine whether gender emancipation genuinely enhances the happiness of both women and men, and whether the focus on women’s well-being might negatively impact men. Data from the World Values Survey were used to conduct cross-sectional and longitudinal analyses. The cross-sectional analysis focused on the relationship between emancipation and happiness, while the longitudinal analysis explored trends in gender emancipation and happiness from the 3rd cohort (1995-1998) to the 7th cohort (2017-2022). Women had higher gender emancipation scores, but the genders did not differ significantly in happiness scores. Surprisingly, there was no significant correlation between gender emancipation and happiness, whether analysing the entire sample or each gender separately. Longitudinal data revealed increasing gender emancipation and happiness over time. This similarity in trends was interpreted as a spurious relationship. It was hypothesised that happiness could stem from gender emancipation. However, despite longitudinal data revealing growing gender emancipation and happiness for both sexes, the cross-sectional analysis showed no such correlations. Gender emancipation and happiness, as measured by the World Values Survey, were not related. Emancipation does not necessarily equate to a happy life.

Family affairs or Government's duty? The tax morality of a mobile society

PurposeThis paper aims to shed light on the relationship between intergenerational labor mobility and tax morale among European citizens, given the relatively limited evidence on the potential influence of tax compliance behavior on future inequalities.Design/methodology/approachExploiting data from the European Values Study (2008), we show that the larger the intergenerational mobility, i.e. better economic conditions of children respect to their parents, the larger the willingness to pay taxes. In this vein, the subjective tax payment may be meant as an investment which could be rewarded with a more mobile society result by considering different estimation strategies. This evidence remarks the importance to foster intergenerational mobility to build a more tax-compliant society.FindingsThe linkage between mobility and tax morale is stronger and significant across citizens living in high income classes, and in countries where there is a commitment of the Government in guaranteeing more opportunities to citizens regardless of their familiar starting conditions (more defamiliarized countries). We further show that the intergenerational mobility significantly shapes the attitude towards tax payment only among individuals who claim for independence from their family context (i.e. those showing less family ties). This evidence remarks the importance to foster intergenerational mobility to build a more tax-compliant society.Originality/valueWe revisit the linkage between attitude toward tax compliance and inequality, on the light of the intergenerational labor mobility, that may be seen as the dependence between children's and parents' earnings. Given the insights from the existing studies, this paper represents the first empirical work that aims to analyze the potential relationship between intergenerational mobility and personal attitude toward tax payment across European citizens.

Survey response rates in European comparative surveys: a 20-year decline irrespective of sampling frames or survey modes

AbstractThis paper assesses trends in three survey outcome rates within four prominent crossnationalcomparative surveys conducted in European countries in the 21st century: theEuropean Quality of Life Survey, the European Social Survey, the European ValuesStudy, and the International Social Survey Programme. These projects are recognisedfor their high-quality sampling and fieldwork procedures, extensive track records, andcommitment to rigorous methodological standards. The analysis is based on 753national surveys conducted on probability samples of the general population in 36European countries from 1999 to 2018. We investigated whether two essential surveycharacteristics, namely sampling frames and data collection modes, moderated thedecrease of survey outcome rates over time. To analyse these relationships, thesurvey year was included as the explanatory variable, and we applied multi-level linearregressions with surveys nested within countries. Additionally, the project name wasincorporated as a fixed factor, and the sampling frame and mode of data collectionwere control variables for the effect of time. Our study provides valuable insights intothe challenges of conducting high-quality Pan-European cross-national comparativesurveys over nearly two decades. We observed a consistent decline in survey outcomerates, irrespective of country or project. Neither the sampling frame nor the datacollection mode moderated this decline. Hence, even though personal register samplesand Face-to-Face interviews are often regarded as enhancements to overall surveyquality, their application does not effectively counter the factors causing a decline insurvey outcome rates.

Social media use and mistrust in authority: an examination of Kohlberg’s moral development model

Purpose The study explores how social media impacts institutional trust through the lens of Kohlberg’s stages of moral development. Specifically, this study aims to understand how moral relativism and moral intuitionism can moderate the relationship between social media use and perception of social authorities. Design/methodology/approach The study analyzes a large data set from the World Values Survey, covering responses from approximately 52,000 individuals across 45 countries between 2017 and 2022. Multiple regression analyses were conducted to test for interactions between social media use and stages of moral development on trust in social institutions. Findings The study finds that different stages of moral development significantly moderate the relationship between social media use and institutional trust. Specifically, higher moral development buffers the negative effect of social media use on trust in three main social institutions: law enforcement, parliament and the legal system. In contrast, individuals with higher levels of moral relativism and moral intuitionism are more susceptible to the negative influence of social media on institutional trust. Research limitations/implications The study relies on self-reported data from the World Values Survey, which may introduce response biases. In addition, while the large-scale data set offers insights into correlations, it does not allow for conclusive causal inferences. Originality/value This research contributes to understanding technology’s impact on modern societies by highlighting the role of individual moral development in shaping perceptions of key social institutions. The study uniquely integrates Kohlberg’s moral development theory with the influence of social media, offering a novel perspective on how personal moral systems can moderate the effect of digital media use.

A Decade of Liberal Cosmopolitanism in the United States: The Effects of Gender, Race, and Income

This study investigates correlates of cosmopolitan sentiments in the United States over a decade, contributing to the literature in two ways. First, it tests the “group status thesis” in the U.S., which suggests that marginalized and disadvantaged groups are more likely to exhibit cosmopolitan attitudes. Second, it examines the interaction between socioeconomic factors and the waves of the World Values Survey conducted between 2006 and 2017. The findings support the main hypotheses of the group status thesis: women, non-Whites, and lower-income individuals tend to be more cosmopolitan in their outlook. Over the 11-year period, the gap in liberal cosmopolitanism between genders and income levels widened. The study concludes that liberal cosmopolitanism is rooted in specific structural locations, with marginalized groups being more inclined to embrace it. Notably, support for cosmopolitanism remained relatively strong before and during the early years of the Trump administration in 2017.

Where you stand depends on where you sit: The effect of status and evaluative identities on human rights perception

What shapes an individual’s perception of domestic human rights conditions? Although scholars have begun to examine public perception of human rights in recent years, existing literature has not adequately considered that one’s perception of human rights conditions is closely tied to one’s lived experiences within society. We argue that individuals’ perceptions of domestic human rights conditions are shaped by their relative socio-economic status within their society (status identity) and their self-assessment of well-being (evaluative identity). Using data from the World Value Survey Wave 7 (2017–2022), we find that individuals who are at a relatively higher standing in society are more likely to have a positive perception of domestic human rights conditions. This article contributes to the literature on human rights perceptions and improves our understanding of individuals’ assessment of human rights. The article also has important policy implications for international institutions and nongovernmental organizations aiming to improve human rights situations. An example is to potentially differentiate strategies among different segments of the population for more effective advocacy and to create favorable public opinion toward human rights causes.

Power and Confidence

Abstract This paper, utilising data from the World Values Survey, presents a pioneering examination of citizens’ confidence in political parties in mainland China spanning a twenty-eight-year period, juxtaposed with global counterparts. The analysis unveils a consistent strengthening of confidence among mainland Chinese citizens in political parties, essentially the Chinese Communist Party, from 1990 to 2018, with a marginal decline around 2012. This heightened confidence secures a noteworthy second-place ranking globally. It exhibits a positive correlation with confidence in government, parliament, civil service, armed forces, police, courts, and the press. Additionally, it aligns positively with perceptions of politics as important in life, national pride, age, trust in people of different religions, willingness to have neighbours of different races, and a sense of a secure neighbourhood. Conversely, it demonstrates a negative association with postmaterialism, educational attainment, support for greater income differences as incentives for economic development, and reliance on TV news for understanding current events.

한국 부모의 자녀 교육 불안의 계층화: 공정성 인식의 매개효과를 중심으로

[Purpose] The purpose of this study is to define the anxiety of Korean parents regarding their children's education as a subtype of social anxiety and to analyze the factors influencing it. In particular, this study explores how parental education and income in Korean society affect anxiety about children's education and further investigates whether this relationship is mediated by parents' perceptions of fairness. [Methods] Using data from the 7th wave of the World Values Survey (WVS Wave 7) for Korea, a one-way ANOVA was conducted to examine whether there are differences in the level of anxiety about children's education based on parental education and income, thereby identifying the stratification of such anxiety. Next, a multinomial logistic regression analysis was performed to determine whether parental education and income continue to influence anxiety about children's education even after controlling for various influencing factors. Lastly, to verify whether the relationship between parental education and income and anxiety about children's education is mediated by parents' perceptions of fairness, PROCESS (Model 4; Hayes, 2012) was used. [Results] The results of the one-way ANOVA showed that as parental education increases, anxiety about children's education also increases, whereas higher parental income tends to reduce this anxiety. The multinomial logistic regression analysis revealed that anxiety about children's education among Korean parents is more influenced by income than education, and that age, residential area size, extroversion, religiosity, and subjective health status also have significant effects. Mediation analysis confirmed that the relationship between parental income and anxiety about children's education is partially mediated by perceptions of fairness in income and asset distribution, as well as fairness in educational, employment, and promotion opportunities. [Conclusion] The findings of this study demonstrate that anxiety about children's education in contemporary Korean society is stratified by income and that this anxiety can be interpreted as a negative emotional response arising from lower perceptions of social fairness. Based on these results, the limitations of this study and directions for future research are also discussed.

AFTER ATHEISM: A SOCIOLOGICAL EXAMINATION

The fall of communism and the collapse of the Soviet Union, the processes of nation building in five Central Asian states have changed the status of religion in these post-soviet countries. The religious freedom is recognized as one of the fundamental humans right in the Republic of Kazakhstan. This essay aims to highlight a unique form of secularism in Kazakhstan, one that is based on the low level of everyday religiosity and evidence that the eventual expansion of Islam in the physical and spiritual spaces does not negate the influence of established secular cultural attitudes. This study examines Kazakh religiosity through a comparative examination of World Values Survey data from 2011 and 2018. The examination of the features of religiosity and the proposition of the distinction between a believer and a religious person define this paper’s subject. The empirical data indicates that Islam has the capacity to transcend moral norms, despite the fact that the majority of Kazakhs' national attitude does not align with Islamic religion in the twenty-first century. Finally, the study draws the conclusion that since most people in post-atheistic Kazakhstan continue to keep secular attitudes, state policy must preserve the secular character of the state while adjusting state-confessional relations to changing Kazakhstan's religious landscape.

Power Distance and Indulgence Are Positively and Negatively Correlated with Ageism, Respectively: Evidence from 31 Countries

As the aging of the world accelerates, clarifying the relationship between cultural differences and ageism is an urgent issue. Therefore, in this study, we conducted a correlation analysis between the six cultural scales of Hofstede et al. and the two ageism scales calculated from data on 35,232 people from 31 countries included in the World Values Survey Wave 6 (WVSW6) by Inglehart et al. The results of a partial correlation analysis controlling for economic and demographic factors showed that power distance (PDI) and indulgence versus restraint (IVR) are positively and negatively correlated with ageism, respectively. This is the first study to show that these two cultural scales, which previous studies have not paid much attention to, are related to ageism.

Food insecurity, subjective well-being and the use of social networking services in Brazil between 2014 and 2018

The great Brazilian recession was the most marked drop in economic activity in Brazil between the end of the Second World War and the Covid-19 pandemics. This economic crisis may have long lasting and non-anticipated negative consequences on Food Insecurity (FI) and on Subjective Well-Being (SWB). In addition, SWB is increasing linked to the use of Social Networking Services (SNS). The paper used data from World Value Survey (WVS) and logistic and ordered logistic models to empirically test a few hypotheses. The empirical results showed that: FI is negatively correlated with life satisfaction, but not with happiness; FI is unrelated to SNS use as still few people use them and the population groups that suffer from FI insecurity poorly overlap with the one that use SNS daily; SWB had positive relationships with SNS when the use was not very widespread; Associations between SWB and SNS use became negative as SNS use became more widespread.

Public concerns about terrorist threats amid Vietnam's high-tech boom

This study analyzed 1200 samples from the 2020 World Values Survey in Vietnam. Ordinal logistic regression and multinomial logistic regression were used to explore the impact of seven sociodemographic variables on concerns about terrorist attacks, including sex, age, education level, occupation group, social class, income level and religion. Additionally, the Spearman rank correlation test was employed to examine whether there is a significant relationship between concerns about terrorist attacks and perceptions of technological development. The results indicated that different gender, educational level, occupation, income, and religious beliefs significantly influence concerns about terrorism. Furthermore, there is a significant correlation between those who do not believe that technological development will lead to a better life and heightened concerns about terrorist attacks. Thus, when implementing policies to reduce the insecurity of Vietnam citizens, in addition to taking into account relevant demographic factors, it would be advisable to consider incorporating strategies that enhance positive perceptions of high technology.

Cultural Tightness-Looseness and Individual Differences in Non-Normativeness Predict Stigmatization of Out-Groups: A Multilevel Cross-Cultural Study

Although a large body of research has focused on the determinants of stigma, multilevel approaches that can identify both micro- and macro-level influences are rarely employed. We adopted a multilevel perspective with data from 174,325 participants from 80 countries in two waves—Wave 5 (Study 1) and Wave 6 (Study 2) of the World Values Survey. We examined how country-level normative tightness-looseness and individual-level non-normativeness relate to stigma toward racial and ethnic out-groups and groups deviating from social standards. Preregistered analyses showed that for both waves individuals in normatively tighter (vs. looser) societies exhibited more stigma generally. Also, for both waves, individuals higher in non-normativeness demonstrated a greater level of stigma toward members of immigrant, racial, or ethnic out-groups while exhibiting a lower level of stigma toward groups deviating from social standards. The current work thus reveals how characteristics of both individuals and culture jointly affect stigma.

(Amoralny) familizm: propozycja rekonceptualizacji z wykorzystaniem psychologii ewolucyjnej i międzykulturowej

In his 1958 book Moral Basis of a Backward Society, Edward Banfield introduced the term amoral familism to describe social relations and values in a poor rural community in southern Italy. In my analysis, I propose to abandon the value-laden epithet "amoral" and consider familism as an evolutionary adaptive strategy activated in times of scarcity or crises. I base the thesis of the evolutionary roots of familism on the inclusive fitness theory (Hamilton 1964) and the theory of kin and reciprocal altruism (Trivers 1971). The perspective of evolutionary psychology makes it possible to see the positive functions of familism and to propose a new biological-cultural understanding of familism. Familism has so far been diagnosed primarily "indirectly" in sociological studies of bonding (and bridging) capital and in research on social trust conducted as part of cyclical social surveys such as the World Values Survey and the European Social Survey. In the search for accurate measures of biological-cultural familism we can additionally turn to the research of cross-cultural psychologists conducted for international management. I argue that the dimension of particularism on the 7-dimensional cultural map of Fons Trompenaars and Charles Hampden-Turner (2002) and the dimension of in-group collectivism on the 9-dimensional cultural map of the GLOBE project (House et al. 2004), can valuably complement the measures used in sociological sciences and make the diagnosis of familism more reliable. Finally, I call for in-depth research on Polish familism aimed at testing whether it is possible to build bridging capital on the basis of familist bonding capital.

Assessing the impact of social trust on attitudes towards immigrants: evidence from Brazil

Since the 2000s, the number of immigrants has been growing in Brazil, as well as the cases of xenophobia. There are multiple explanations in the literature on the drivers of attitudes towards immigrants, which vary at the individual, regional and national analytical levels. We discuss and situate the argument of societal integration within the debate on whether social trust can reduce negative attitudes towards immigrants. We argue that social trust is key to reducing negative perceptions towards immigrants and a good predictor of attitudes in environments with strong perceived threat and prejudice, as is the case in Brazil. We empirically test whether greater generalized trust and trust in foreigners are related to a more positive attitude towards immigrants. Although this relationship has already been studied in other countries, to the best of our knowledge no study has yet been applied to the Brazilian case. Using data from the World Values Survey wave 7, and applying a logit model, our results corroborate that social trust has a positive impact on perceptions towards immigrants.

Decentralization and attitudes towards the environment: Survey-based evidence

Attitudes towards the environment are changing around the world. This may be due to greater awareness about environmental challenges, in part motivated by climate change, but also innovations in the policy landscape, such as those associated with decentralization, or the assignment of policymaking, administrative and political responsibilities to the subnational levels of administration. Decentralization brings the government closer to the people and creates room for bottom-up policy experimentation and citizen participation in policy design, which may influence attitudes. To shed light on these linkages, this paper provides survey-based empirical evidence based on data from the World Values Survey that exposure to decentralization contributes to more favorable attitudes towards the environment, controlling for personal and household characteristics of respondents, as well as country and cohort fixed effects.

Left–right political orientation fails to explain environmental attitudes of Europeans outside Western Europe: exploring the moderating role of party positions and issue salience

ABSTRACT While conventional wisdom holds that right-wing individuals tend to present more negative attitudes toward environmental protection, McCright and colleagues find no clear relationship between political ideology and environmental attitudes in Central and Eastern Europe. The reason for this finding remains speculative. Our study expands on this phenomenon by exploring how party competition and, thereby, parties’ focus on a specific issue moderate this ideology-environment link at an individual level across 28 European countries. Using individual level-data from the European Value Study and party-level estimates from the Chapel Hill Expert Survey, our findings emphasize that respondents’ political orientation predicts their environmental attitudes more strongly when their preferred party prioritizes environmental issues. Notably, the left-right connection weakens when parties downplay environmental concerns, revealing why such issues have less impact in Central and Eastern, and Southern European political landscapes. This underscores the contextual boundaries of political ideology’s explanatory power in diverse political arrangements.

Economic Impacts of the 1997 Compulsory Education Reform in Turkey: New Findings and Employment Analysis

This study investigates the economic impact of Turkey's 1997 compulsory education reform, which extended mandatory schooling from five to eight years. Utilizing data from the seventh wave of the World Values Survey and employing an instrumental variable approach with Two-Stage Least Squares (2SLS) estimation, we provide new insights into the reform's outcomes. The findings reveal that the reform significantly increased educational attainment and reduced gender disparities. However, the anticipated economic benefits were limited, with higher unemployment rates and a lower likelihood of high-skilled employment among treated cohorts. Additionally, those affected by the reform reported lower perceived improvements in their standard of living compared to their parents. These results suggest that the expansion of education increased the supply of educated individuals, potentially lowering the overall value of education in the labour market.

Understanding public confidence in the police within democratic and authoritarian regimes

AbstractStudies of public confidence in the police have enabled important insights into the factors responsible for achieving public support. Empirically tested in overwhelmingly democratic nations, there remain questions about the generalizability of this work to different types of political regimes, especially authoritarian nations. Using Wave 7 of the World Values Survey (n = 38,838) we assess whether predictors of police confidence operate in similar or different ways within the most democratic and authoritarian nations. Both regimes share similar underpinnings of confidence (corruption, religious identity, neighborhood trust, and government performance). Yet, key differences exist (i.e., country‐level differences measuring insecurity and instability, press freedom and corruption).