Research Seminar from Series ‘Culture Matters’ . Speaker: Shalom Schwartz

The scientific seminar from series ‘Culture Matters’ organised by the International Scientific-Educational Laboratory for Socio-Cultural Research will be held on September 16, Tuesday.

Shalom Schwartz, PhD, Scientific Supervisor of ILSCR, Professor at Hebrew University (Jerusalem, Israel) will make presentation on ‘Value Bases of Socio-political Attitudes across 15 Countries’.

Abstract:

Do the political attitudes of the general public form a coherent system? Or are the political ideas of the public not clearly organized? If there is coherence, what might it come from? Political attitudes can be seen as expressions, in the political domain, of more basic personal values. According to the theory of basic personal values, values (e.g., security, achievement, benevolence, hedonism) form a circular continuum that reflects their conflicting and compatible motivations. I theorize that this circular motivational structure gives coherence to political attitudes. I will describe a study that tested this theorizing in 15 countries, 12 noncommunist and three post-communist. Respondents reported their support for eight core political attitudes (e.g., free enterprise, law and order) and the importance they ascribe to each of 10 basic personal values. Based on the motivations that each personal value expresses, I specify the political values it promotes or opposes. Hypotheses differ for the non-communist and post-communist countries where the political context suggests different meanings of a values or political attitudes. We tested the hypotheses in each country using correlation and regression. We also compared the contribution of basic values for predicting political attitudes compared with age, gender, education, and income. Multidimensional scaling analyses provide a visual picture of the way the circular motivational continuum of basic values structures relations among political attitudes. This study strengthens the assumption that individual differences in basic personal values play a critical role in political thought.

Start time: 3:30 pm

Address: 46 B Volgogradsky Prospekt, Room 210a

If you have any questions or a need a pass to the HSE, please contact Lipatova Anna, email: alipatova@hse.ru