Value Orientations and Cooperation: Exploring the Value-Behavior Link

• Applicant: Professor Dr. Christian Welzel
• Subject Area: Political Science ; Empirical Social Research ; Sociological Theory ; Economic Theory
• Term: from 2012 to 2017
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 230824795

• Final Report Year: 2017

Final Report Abstract

This project has been conducted as the German part of the sixth round of the World Values Surveys. Its aims consisted in the continuation of the longitudinal monitoring of the German population’s value dynamic in global comparison. The findings illustrate that the emancipatory dynamic in the German population’s values has indeed continued, especially in the field of sexuality norms where support for gender equality and gay rights shows an especially steep rise. The prevalent pattern of dynamism in emancipative values has shifted in the meanwhile from cohort replacement as the dominant mechanism to lifelong learning, which can be considered as an adaptive shift in the malleability of mentalities. On the downside, however, there are indications of an increasing class polarization over emancipative values, which nurture the appeal of right-wing populism among “left behind” segments of the population. A more specific goal of this project that placed the German survey into a unique pilot position within the World Values Surveys was to examine the feasability and added value of combining the survey with an experimental online game. It turned out that this is indeed a feasible task worthwhile to be pursued because it produced meaningful new insights. Most importantly, this is the first time that a representative value-behavior nexus could be evidenced with individual-level data. Specifically, emancipative values have been shown to be conducive to cooperative behavior in terms of monetary donations. The Executive Board of the World Values Surveys considers this pilot study as a success and recommends it for application in additional countries during the ongoing seventh round of surveys.

Publications

• (2013). Freedom Rising: Human Empowerment and the Quest for Emancipation. New York: Cambridge University Press [Winner of the Alexander L. George Award 2014 and the Stein Rokkan Prize 2014]
  Welzel, C.
  
• (2014). The Civic Culture Transformed: From Allegiant to Assertive Citizens. New York: Cambridge University Press
  Dalton, R.J. & C. Welzel, eds.
  
• (2015). “Emancipating Sexuality: Breakthroughs into a Bulwark of Tradition.” Social Indicators Research 102: 1-27
  Alexander, Amy C.; Inglehart, Ronald & Welzel, Christian
  
• (2015). “Generalizing Trust: The Benign Force of Emancipation.” Journal of Cross-Cultural Psychology 46: 875-896
  Welzel, Christian & Delhey, Jan
  
• (2015). “People’s Declining Willingness to Fight in Wars: The Individual-level Basis of the Long Peace.” Journal of Peace Research 51: 418-434
  Inglehart, Ronald F; Puranen, Bi & Welzel, Christian
  
• (2015). “Pitfalls in the Study of Democratization: Testing the Emancipatory Theory of Democracy.” British Journal of Political Science 46: 1-10
  Welzel, Christian; Inglehart, Ronald & Kruse, Stefan
  
• (2016). "Cultural Change in Asia and Beyond: From Allegiant to Assertive Citizens." Asian Journal of Comparative Politics 1: 1-28
  Welzel, Christian & Dalton, Russell
  
• (2016). "Value Diffusion among Autocracies and Democracies." Global Policy 7 (4): 563-570
  Deutsch, Franziska & Welzel, Christian
  
• (2016). “Misconceptions of Measurement Equivalence: Time for a Paradigm Shift." Comparative Political Studies 49 (8): 1068-1094
  Welzel, Christian & Inglehart, Ronald F.
  
• (2017). "Survey Response and Observed Behavior: Emancipative and Secular Values Predict Prosocial Behaviors." Journal of Cross-Cultural Psychology 48: 1-28
  Kistler, Deborah; Thöni, Christian & Welzel, Christian
  
• (2017). "The Myth of Deconsolidation: Rising Liberalism and the Populist Reaction." Journal of Democracy: Online Debate Forum
  Alexander, A.C. & C. Welzel