Values Change in Russia, Mexico and Germany
At the 13th LCSR International Workshop participants presented their studies on the dynamics of values in Mexico, Germany and Russia.
Alejandro Moreno from the Autonomous Technological Institute of Mexico (ITAM) presented the paper “Value Change in Mexico: Four Decades of Tracking Generational Replacement and Conformity Effects, 1982-2023”. Based on the World Values Survey (WVS) the author found a shift toward higher levels of self-expression values and lower levels of traditional and survival values. For Generation Z, which includes people born between 1997 and 2005, the most important values are freedom of choice, tolerance and subjective well-being. Conversely, religiosity is becoming less important. These patterns support R. Inglehart’s theory that the primary force of modernization is the generational replacement.
Peter Schmidt from Justus Liebig University Giessen in Germany examined the dynamics of German values between 2014 and 2021 using growth curve modeling and the Schwarz methodology. This temporal span encompasses two social catastrophes, specifically the COVID-19 pandemic and the migration crisis. His findings indicate no significant changes. It seems that even during times of severe social upheaval, basic value of adult Germans remains relatively stable.
Vladimir Magun, a professor at the Laboratory of Comparative Studies of Mass Consciousness of the National Research University Higher School of Economics, introduced the third report, which examined the development of basic values in Russia between 2006 and 2021. Using the same Schwartz approach and data from the European Social Survey conducted in Russia, Vladimir Magun shows notable shifts for all values but Tradition. There is now more support for the Autonomy, Hedonism, Simulation, and Benevolence. The values of Security, Conformity, and Universalism, on the other hand, showed a minor decline.
Summing up studies in Mexico, Russia, and Germany, we can tentatively draw two conclusions: first, the dynamics of the value change generally follow the predicted trend, where economic development and value transformation go hand in hand (in Germany’s case, we do not observe corresponding changes because economic development is already high and growth is negligible); second, the social crises, specifically COVID-19 pandemic, may not have had a significant impact on basic values. However, a delayed effect is also possible.
By Artur Musaev