Yuriy Savelyev (National Taras Shevchenko University of Kyiv)

Modernization and Variations in Values Change in European Societies in 1995-2008

Yuriy Savelyev is Research Fellow and Adjunct lecturer at the Faculty of Sociology, National Taras Shevchenko University of Kyiv, Ukraine

Abstract: The research tests modernization model suggested by R. Inglehart and C. Welzel (2009; 2010), which links modernization to the concept of human development and comprises individual resources (objective means of choice), emancipative cultural values (motives of choice) and institutional rules (effective rights to human choice). According to this model emancipative and self-expression values have to appear due to the growth of resources and economic security and this process has proved to be universal. On the contrary, “multiple modernities” theorists contend that there are different cultural interpretations or trajectories of modernity (Eisenstadt 2000; Wagner 2010). Existing research demonstrates peculiarities in values and attitudes that did not chang along with economic development and growing prosperity (Тихонова 2008; 2011; Магун, Руднев 2010).

The dataset for analysis consists of integrated World Values Survey data (waves 3, 4, 5: WVS1994-1999, WVS1999-2004, WVS2005-2007) and European Values Survey data (waves 3, 4: EVS1999-2001, EVS2008-2010) with the matching questions (overall 78501 respondents). Using method of linear decomposition of the trend (Firebaugh 1989; 1992), the study of 16 European societies from 1995 till 2008 reveals a general shift from materialist to post-materialist values although this trend is obscured by adverse directions of intracohort values changes in some European societies. The linear decomposition analysis showed that Inglehart’s socialization hypothesis (Inglehart 1990) on values change was true for both selected West European and East European countries. The study supports modernization model by R. Inglehart and his collaborators if assume that emancipative cultural values (motives of choice) are formed via socialization process and remain relatively stable  during the life course.

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Bogdan Voicu (Romanian Academy of Sciences)

High-Skilled Immigrants and Social Integration in Times of Crisis. A Cross-European Analysis (co-authored with Ionela Vlase)

Bogdan Voicu is principal research fellow at the Research Institute for Quality of Life of the Romanian Academy of Sciences and Associate Professor at the Department of Sociology of Lucian Blaga University in Sibiu. He is also a member of theRomanian Group for the Study of Social Values.

Abstract: In times of economic turmoil, do high-skilled immigrants (HSIMs) tremble, or are they better suited than non-immigrants or low-skill immigrants to cope with such instability? The existing literature does not point in a clear direction, as it provides arguments for both possibilities. This paper sheds some light on HSIMs’ social integration by considering their life satisfaction, ability to get paid work, and civic participation. European Social Survey (ESS) data are used in multilevel models aiming to disentangle the effect of recession in the host economy from that of living through times of crisis. The findings reveal diverse path ways. In troubled economies, HSIMs succeed in increasing their access to paid work and involvement in organizations, but their life satisfaction decreases. In functional economies, the situation is reversed: Life satisfaction seems to have a protective role in relation to the slightly higher difficulties in the labor market and lesser civic participation.

Malina Voicu (EUROLAB, GESIS)

Civic Participation and Gender Beliefs: An Analysis of 41 Countries (co-authored with Bogdan Voicu)

Malina Voicu  is postdoctoral researcher with the European Data Laboratory for Comparative Social Research (EUROLAB), GESIS. She is also a member of the International Sociological Association, European Sociological Association, and some other sociological organizations.

Abstract: Gender beliefs have changed during recent decades due to cultural changes, transformations in the family context, and economic and technological development. The present analysis focuses on civic participation and protest-activity attendance as driving forces behind changes in gender beliefs. Many studies have investigated the relationship between democratization and gender equality. It is also shown that democratization and changes in gender beliefs go together as part of the same broad cultural change. However, the level of civic and political participation can differ from one democratic country to another. Moreover, civic participation and mass protest activities can also exist in non-democratic societies. We are interested in how individual actions or contexts, which are rich in associational behaviors, or involvement in social movements like petition signing, protest demonstrations, and boycotts shape values related to gender equality. We use multi-level regression models and World Values Survey (WVS) data collected from 41 countries in 2005. The findings show that membership in civic associations and participation in protest activities transform gender beliefs, but the sign of the relation depends on the gender and the type of association or protest action. For both genders, participation in protest actions, particularly attending lawful demonstrations and petition signing, increases opportunities for common activities in the public space, stimulates exposure to egalitarian ideology, and creates incentives and catalyzers for supporting gender equality. For men, a social context in which participation in protest action is more frequent provides an environment that fosters more equalitarian gender values irrespective of their personal characteristics and experiences of civic involvement.

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Francesco Sarracino (STATEC)

Introduction to imputation of missing data

Francesco Sarracino is an economist collaborating with STATEC, the national institute of statistics of Luxembourg, the GESIS - Leibniz Institute for the Social Sciences, and an associate member of the scientific network of the Laboratory for Comparative Social Research – Higher School of Economics, Russia

Abstract: The aim of this training is to provide an introduction to the issue of missing data in survey analysis and the techniques available for imputation. Missing data is a very frequent obstacle in many social science studies. The absence of values on one or more variables can significantly affect statistical analyses by reducing their precision and by introducing selection biases. The lecture will introduce the theoretical foundations of missing data imputation and review the main techniques available. The theoretical part will be supported by an empirical analysis where the outcomes of various techniques are compared. Specific attention will be devoted to multiple imputation. The lecture is articulated over the following topics:

• mechanisms of missingness and possible solutions;
• techniques for missing data imputation;
• empirical comparison of different techniques for imputation.

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