European societies find themselves confronted with a loss of certainty about their future. Widespread hopes for perpetual economic wealth, ever-extending individual liberties and physical well-being, indestructible political stability, and being safe from military threats have been shattered by the cumulated experience of economic crises, a pandemic, increasingly catastrophic impacts of climate change, and military aggression in the rather immediate neighbourhood.
The severity of the recent, ongoing, and likely future changes in political, economic, and environmental conditions now raises the question of how stable established values are and how much they pose constraints on the attitudes that more directly guide individual short-term preferences and actions. Cross-national repeated studies, i.e. the EVS, WVS, and ESS, as well as other surveys, provide well-suited data sources for answering such questions.
The European Values Study, in cooperation with the World Values Survey Association and the European Social Survey ERIC, is organising a conference that will take place on 8 November 2024 in Cologne, Germany, hosted by GESIS Leibniz Institute for the Social Sciences, to reflect on these issues and specifically invites contributions that ask questions such as:
- Whether, in a backwards-looking perspective, we have already observed value change that occurs faster than a generational replacement would have led us to expect.;
- From a forward-looking perspective, what is the baseline for further changes to expect under the current and upcoming changes?;
- How strong is the relationship between foundational values and political or social attitudes, especially under societal crisis and stress?
Outside that focus, we also welcome other contributions using EVS, WVS, and ESS data, regardless of the specific topical area, that allow taking stock of European societies before the new data collection waves of the values studies.
Please send an abstract of not more than 250 words to secretariat.evs@gmail.com by September 15th, 2024. Acceptance decisions will be communicated by the end of September 2024.
Please note that the conference will be an on-site event only. No registration fee is requested, but registration is necessary (a registration form will be available after 15/09/2024).
Conference organizing committee: Markus Quandt (EVS), Vera Lomazzi (EVS), Kseniya Kizilova (WVS), Ruxandra Comanaru (ESS Eric), Beatrice Elena Chromková Manea (EVS), Claudiu Tufis (EVS), Quita Muis (EVS)
Secretariat support: Francesca Bellini (EVS)
Read the full call for abstracts: