Christian Welzel (Leuphana University, Germany)

The Civic Culture Revisited: From Allegiant to Assertive Citizens 

Christian Welzel is the Political Culture Research Professor at Leuphana University in Lueneburg, Germany. He is also President (emer.) and Vice-President of the World Values Survey Association and Foreign Consultant to the Laboratory for Comparative Social Research at the National Research University/Higher School of Economics in St. Petersburg and Moscow, Russia. His research focuses on human empowerment, emancipative values, cultural change and democratization. A recipient of various large-scale grants, Welzel is the author of more than a hundred scholarly publications. Besides his just published Freedom Rising (2013 at CUP, winner of the Alexander George Award and the Stein Rokkan Prize, see www.cambridge.org/welzel), the most recent books include: The Civic Culture Transformed (with Russell J. Dalton, at CUP 2014); Democratization (with Christian Haerpfer, Ronald Inglehart and Patrick Bernhagen, at OUP 2009) and Modernization, Cultural Change and Democracy (with Ronald Inglehart, 2005 at CUP).

Abstract: The rise of emancipative values and related behavioral changes, such as the spread of nonviolent mass movements, are transforming the political cultures of contemporary societies around the world. We witness the transition from predominantly "allegiant orientations" that tie people loyally to institutions and authorities toward more "assertive orientations," which increase people's distance to institutionalized authority and enhance their motivation to confront power holders with demands from below. My analyses trace this transformation and illuminate its consequences for both accountable and effective governance. Surprising as it may seem for advocates of an elite theory of democracy, the emergence of a more assertive culture is beneficial for both accountable and effective governance.

Eric Uslaner (University of Maryland-College Park, USA)

The Historical Roots of Corruption

Eric Uslaner is Professor of Government and Politics at the University of Maryland–College Park.  He is Senior Research Fellow, Center for American Law and Political Science, Southwest University of Political Science and Law, Chongqing, China and Honorary Professor of Political Science, University of Aarhus, Denmark.  He the author of eight books, including The Moral Foundations of Trust (Cambridge University Press, 2002; Chinese translation, Chinese Social Sciences Press, 2007; Korean translation, Today;s Books, 2014), Corruption, Inequality, and the Rule of Law: The Bulging Pocket Makes the Easy Life (Cambridge University Press, 2008; paperback, 2010; Chinese translation forthcoming 2015, Chinese Social Sciences Press; Japanese translation, Nippon Hyoron Sha, 2011), and Segregation and Mistrust: Diversity, Isolation, and Social Cohesion (Cambridge University Press, 2012) and approximately 150 articles.  He is the editor of the Oxford Handbook of Social and Political Trust (Oxford University Press, forthcoming).  He is part of a team with Ase Berit Grodeland and Leslie Templeton Holmes investigating Russian legal culture under a grant from the Research Council of Norway program on Russia and the High North Atlantic. He has received grants from the National Science Foundation and the Russell Sage and C.V. Starr Foundations.  He was the Fulbright Distinguished Professor of American Political Science at the Australian National University, Canberra in 2010 and in 1981-82 was Fulbright Professor of American Studies and Political Science at the Hebrew University, Jerusalem, Israel.

Аbstract: We show a link between levels of mass education in 1870 and corruption levels in 2010 for 78 countries that remains strong when controlling for change in the level of education, GDP/ capita, and democratic governance. A theoretical model for the existence of a causal mechanism between universal education and control of corruption is presented. Early introduction of universal education is linked to levels of economic equality in the late 19th and early 20st centuries and to efforts to increase state capacity. First, societies with more equal education gave citizens more opportunities and power for opposing corruption. Secondly, the need for increased state capacity was a strong motivation for the introduction of universal education in many countries. In addition to the statistical analyses, historical evidence show that strong states provided more education to their publics and that such states were more common where economic disparities were initially smaller.

Arne Kalleberg (University of North Carolina, USA)

Precarious Lives: Insecurity, Exclusion and Well-Being in Industrial Societies

Arne Kalleberg is a Kenan Distinguished Professor of Sociology, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (since 1994), and Adjunct Professor of Public Policy, (since 2009), Adjunct Professor of Global Studies (since 2007), Adjunct Professor of Management, Kenan-Flagler School of Business (since 1991). His areas of interest mostly concern sociology of work, social stratification and quantitative methods of analysis.

Аbstract: There has been a growth in recent years of precarious work in all industrial societies.  By precarious work I mean work that is uncertain, unstableand insecureand in which employees bear the risks of work (as opposed to businesses or the government) and receive limited social benefits and statutory entitlements.  Precarious work has pervasive consequences for work as well as many non-work individual outcomes. This talk will focus on five major outcomes of precarious work: (1) job insecurity; (2) economic insecurity; (3) the transition to adulthood and family formation; (4) individual well-being; and (5) political instability.  While precarious work is a global phenomenon, countries differ in the extent to which precarious work has greater or lesser effects on these outcomes, depending on their institutions and cultures.  I will focus on differences in six countries that may enhance or alleviate the effects of precarious work: Denmark, Germany, Japan, Spain, the United Kingdom and the United States. 

Fabrizio Zilibott (Zurich University, Switzerland) 

The Economics of Parentings Style (based on work with Matthias Doepke) 

 Fabrizio Zilibotti (Zurich University, Switzerland) is a former Professor of Economics at University College London and at Stockholm University, Fabrizio Zilibotti (born 07.09.1964) currently holds the Chair of Macroeconomics and Political Economy of the Department of Economics at the University of Zurich.

Abstract:  Since time immemorial, parents have struggled with the question of how best to raise their children. In recent years, there has been a trend towards more involved, time-intensive parenting especially among the educated classes (helicopter mothers, Tiger Moms, Kyoiku mamas, etc.). This recent trend is in sharp contrast with the anti-authoritarian fashion in parenting and education practices during the 1960s and 1970s, emphasizing freedom, independence and creativity. In our research, we argue that the evolution of parenting style is driven by economic incentives. The permissive wave in the 1960s and 1970s was associated with low inequality, low unemployment and low return to education. Conversely, increasing inequality and returns to school since the 1980s has paved the way to the popularity of a change in parenting style whereby mothers and fathers get deeply involved in all dimensions of their children lives (support in homework and exam preparation, extra-curricular activities, sport, etc.). Moreover, there are large differences across countries. Survey data show that parents in more unequal countries (e.g., China and the US) place more emphasis on hard work, and consider imagination and independence to be less important. Conversely, Scandinavian parents emphasize the value of imagination and independence, consistent with the observation that in these countries children enjoy more leeway than their peers in Southern Europe and the US. Helicopter parents and tiger moms have important effects on social mobility, because the heavy involvement of parents increases the importance of the family background, magnifying inequality in opportunities.