During recent years, Europe was exposed to remarkable dynamics of simultaneously growing together and falling apart: the traffic of goods, services, and labor between European states and regions increased, the European Union was enlarged as a geographical, political, and social unit, and cultural barriers seem to be declining. At the same time, the aftermath of the recent Euro-Crisis and the dramatic surge of violent conflicts in neighboring countries changed the living and working conditions of European citizens. While the last economic crisis calls into question intra-European solidarity, increasing immigration from outside Europe challenges the “Fortress Europe” and raises questions of security, responsibility for border controls, and for the distribution of wealth.

How do all these changes impact the Europeans’ values?

The fifth wave of the European Values Study will provide further insights into this matter. Many of the questions posed replicate previous waves, thus enabling analysis of change over time on the key dimensions of the EVS. With the addition of the fifth wave, the EVS will be a unique source of trend data for the past four decades. The range of potential research questions is very wide, involving any of the topics covered, using either this dataset on its own or in conjunction with previous waves and looking either at a specific country alone or in comparison with other European countries.

The collaboration with the World Values Survey and the engagement in the SERISS project are crucial aspects of the development of the fifth wave of EVS, together with the strengthening of the methodology standards and practices implemented.