European Values Study

In the late eighties researchers wondered whether the increasing European integration resulted in the development of European values (parallel to national values). A consortium of universities in 16 states developed a questionnaire, submitted it to representative groups and processed in a first comparative view. This was repeated several times and in the ’90’s at the initiative of Ronald Inglehart a series of non-European countries were added.

The stack on the left contains some scans of the Atlas of the European Values. Some of the pictures in the stack on family show remarkable results. The one but least important condition for a happy marriage according to the respondents is being of the same social background. However, statistics on reasons for divorce show that this condition is one of the major reasons; underestimation!

In values children should learn imagination scores one but last. However, in Europe we need innovation to move our economy forward and hence, we have a

strong need for creativity and imagination. As if politicians are not parents …

‘Confidence in Politics’ and ‘Trust in Institutions’ have been chosen because of their importance for a healthy civil society, which in turn is a necessary condition for democratisation and the quality of democracy.

The scan on government supervision indicates the preferences of respondents on the role of government in business. Of course, the more government is involved, the larger its bureaucracy. This is a political choice!

On political priorities you may note that only the Dutch opt for protecting freedom of speech. As a Dutchman its makes me wonder, as a researcher I wonder why.

The scan on integration and assimilation shows the preferences of the respondents but assimilation actually takes four generations in Europe. And what do you do in the meantime?