ESRA 2025 Preliminary Program
All time references are in CEST
European Values Study and World Values Survey: Substantive Findings and Methodological Challenges in value research 3 |
| Session Organisers |
Dr Vera Lomazzi (European Values Study/ University of Bergamo)
Dr Kseniya Kizilova (World Values Survey Association)
Professor Ruud Luijkx (European Values Study/Tilburg University)
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| Time | Wednesday 16 July, 11:00 - 12:00 |
| Room |
Ruppert rood - 0.51 |
The European Values Study (EVS) and the World Values Survey (WVS) are two large-scale comparative time-series survey research programs studying people’s values, norms and beliefs. Since 1981, these programmes have jointly carried out representative national surveys in over 120 countries and societies containing 92 percent of the world’s population representing an invaluable data source for a global network of scholars and international development agencies, including the World Bank, the UNDP, the WHO, the OECD, regional development banks etc. Over the years, the EVS and the WVS have proven the importance of population value study and have demonstrated that people’s beliefs play a key role in economic development, emergence and flourishing of democratic institutions, rise of gender equality, and the extent to which societies have effective government.
We welcome submissions based on EVS/WVS data addressing substantive and/or methodological aspects of value research.
The recently published joint EVS-WVS dataset (2017-2022) and the EVS-WVS trend file (1981-2022) allow social and political sciences to broaden and deepen their analysis. Present session invites papers which make use of the EVS/WVS data -solely or in combination with other types of data- to address a broad scope of issues, including political culture and political attitudes, support for democracy and political participation, perceptions of gender equality and moral values, identity and trust, civil society, corruption, solidarity, and migration among the others.
We also invite papers addressing the projects’ methodological aspects, including challenges and limitations such as reliability and equivalence of employed scales and indicators, non-responses, combining self- and interviewer-administered mode and other. The panel particularly invites papers comparing findings collected via different survey methods in the same countries allowing to estimate the reliability of online surveys as well as to discuss the challenges and
Keywords: values, WVS, EVS
Papers
Democracy Beyond Ideology: Analyzing Global Trends in Political Beliefs
Mr Devendra Poola (Centre for Economic and Social Studies) - Presenting Author
Dr Prashant Kumar Choudhary (Manipal Academy of Higher Education)
Political ideology and political beliefs are strongly related to each other. Using the World Values Survey (2017-2022), we analyzed 57 countries, categorized by their democratic level according to V-Dem. We find that since 1981-84, there has been an increment in the percentage of individuals (by more than 10%) who can be termed ‘radical’. Applying the Probit model, which we have used for the four groups of countries, this paper finds that individuals from any categorized groups have pro-democracy beliefs irrespective of their ideology. i.e., their political ideology and positioning in the country they belong to do not impact their political beliefs much. For example, individuals with reformist or conservative inclinations (compared to radical ones) prefer a democratic system over a theocratic state or army rule. They also reject political violence, have high confidence in elections and their government, and show greater respect (compared to radical ones) for human rights. The study posits that democratic political ideals have deepened among individuals regardless of their country’s democratic status. It can be argued that it is due to political awareness and exposure gained through media that individuals value pro-democratic beliefs more than ever.
Perceived Control and Societal Change: Generational Dynamics and Cultural Shifts in Europe (1999–2017)
Dr Aida Savicka (Lithuanian Culture Research Institute) - Presenting Author
Perceived control over one’s life reflects an individual’s subjective belief in their ability to influence the circumstances and events shaping their experiences, enabling them to achieve desired outcomes. Extensive research highlights that higher levels of perceived control not only enhance personal quality of life but also promote broader societal benefits, including economic efficiency, social inclusion, and civic engagement. Furthermore, perceived control plays a pivotal role in fostering resilience during crises. At the individual level, it supports the development of effective coping strategies, reduces psychological distress, encourages proactive problem-solving, and contributes to better health outcomes. At the societal level, it reinforces community cohesion, facilitates mutual support, and promotes collaborative problem-solving, thereby enabling more coordinated responses to collective challenges.
Strategies that sustain or enhance perceived control can thus serve as critical buffers against the adverse impacts of crises. However, the social conditions that foster perceived control, as well as its broader implications for society, remain underexplored. To address this gap, the present research would contribute to the conference by investigating trends in perceived control across selected European countries, drawing on longitudinal data from the European Values Survey (1999–2017). Using a cohort replacement framework, the study reveals that while long-term trends point toward increasing perceived control across Western, Northern, Southern, and Eastern Europe, regional variations persist. Additionally, the findings highlight significant inter-cohort differences in perceived control across all regions. However, a multilevel age-period-cohort analysis suggests that while generational replacement contributes to rising levels of perceived control, the primary driver is a profound cultural transformation that transcends generational boundaries.
Extending decomposition techniques to analyse the determinants of generationally driven social change
Dr Francesco Molteni (University of Milan) - Presenting Author
Many, if not all, sociological theories are theories of change, and secularization theory is no exception. While the general idea that modernization fosters secularization is widely accepted, empirical tests of this theory face challenge due to the complexity of the concepts and the difficulty of modelling longitudinal change. Researchers have primarily employed three strategies to address these challenges: cross-sectional models, "panels of countries," and decomposition techniques. Among these, decomposition techniques – though rarely applied in the field – are particularly advantageous. They allow for capturing both enduring country-specific traits and their changes over time while simultaneously controlling for individual factors.
The underlying—and often implicit—assumption behind these models is that societal trends directly influence individuals’ values and behaviours over time. However, this perspective neglects the influence of formative years, during which cultural patterns such as religiosity are predominantly shaped and remain resistant to later changes. As a result, many models fail to detect significant within-country, between-periods changes in values and attitudes over time.
To address this limitation, an updated model is proposed, nesting individuals within country-specific socialization cohorts, nested within countries. This refinement emphasizes the impact of contextual characteristics during formative years, enabling a more nuanced analysis of socialization contexts and their evolution.
By leveraging on the combined EVS and WVS dataset, applications of this model will be presented to explore the effects of Human Development Index (HDI) and tertiary education on changes in public service attendance worldwide. Additionally, its potential for studying other social phenomena will be discussed, along with its main limitations, offering broader implications for sociological research.
