Social scientists have long been interested in whether attitudes and value preferences differ between birth cohorts and generations. A classic example of research into generational differences is the postulation of value differences between European birth cohorts in materialist and post-materialist value orientations by Ronald Inglehart. In this view, differences in the predominant socio-economic situation when growing up between generations lead to value differences that divide generations. However, the question of generational differences is not only interesting in its own right, but it is also crucial for explaining social change overall. Over time, generational differences may gradually lead to a whole new social climate on specific issues, such as climate change or same-sex marriages. Indeed, there is a wide range of social issues where younger generations may hold very different views than their parents and grandparents, such as the role of religion in public or private life or the provision of social benefits to people in need.
The session is open for contributions addressing questions such as: In what areas do generational differences exist and in which countries or parts of Europe? How do such differences relate to material conditions, cultural contexts and institutional settings in the countries where they can be detected? Do such differences change over time, and do they converge or contribute to a polarisation of European societies? What are the underlying factors and mechanisms that lead to generational differences? How do attitudinal changes between generations contribute to societal change as a whole?
All contributions should be based on data from the European Social Survey (ESS). The ESS is a unique data source to address these questions, as it offers a wide range of attitudinal measures that can be employed to investigate generational differences. Measures of interest in this context can be found in the core questionnaire, such as general values based on Schwartz’s basic human values scale, trust in institutions, and religiosity, but also through its rotating modules on topics such as experiences and expressions of ageism (2008), attitudes towards welfare provision (2008, 2016), climate change and energy (2016), immigration (2014), justice and fairness (2018), as well as understandings and evaluations of democracy (2012, 2020). Similarly welcome are methodological contributions dealing with the well-known challenge of disentangling age, cohort and period effects in analysing generational differences in attitudes and values, potentially exploiting the multi-country perspective the ESS has to offer.
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Analysing Age, Period, and Cohort effects using Scenario Trajectory Analysis with applications to ESS data
Patrick Sturgis1, Jouni Kuha1, Ian Brunton-Smith2
1London School of Economics and Political Science, United Kingdom; 2University of Surrey
Social scientists across disciplines are interested in how phenomena of interest change over time and over the life-course. They approach this task by collecting measurements of the concept of interest longitudinally, either using repeated cross-sections, or repeated measures on the same units. When thinking about this type of change over time, it is common to divide the processes that drive change into Age (how the concept changes as we get older), Period (how the concept is affected by events at the time of measurement), and Cohort (how the concept is related to when people were born). A well-known limitation of analysing this type of data is that these three APC components cannot be separately identified because the terms are exactly mathematically dependent: A=P-C. This means that an infinite number of possible effect combinations are equally consistent with the data. In this paper, we present a new approach to analysing APC effects using a parameterisation which includes non-linear effects and an identifiable linear plane which contains the unidentifiable linear effects. While this does not solve the APC identification problem, it does enable some useful insights on the range of possible effect combinations, given the observed data. In particular, it can be useful in assessing existing claims about the shape of each of the linear components, or in assessing the plausibility of a priori theoretical conjectures. We illustrate the approach with substantive examples using European Social Survey data.
Generational Differences in Motivational Goals Among European (Young) Adults: A Practical Application of Schwartz's Theory of Basic Human Values.
Tom Hensel
Technische Universität Braunschweig, Germany
The article discusses the assumption that in Western societies, individuals born in the same time period tend to share similar needs, attitudes, and beliefs, forming distinct generations (Howe 2023; Howe and Strauss 1991, 2000; Mannheim 1928). In this context, the so-called 'Generation Y' has recently received significant attention in public debates across various countries. It is deduced from the special conditions of growing up at the turn of the century that the values and goals of this generation differ in a generation-typical and generation-constituting way from the predecessor and successor cohorts. These cohorts are popularly labelled as Baby Boomers (or Generation B) and Generation X (Coupland 1991; Kupperschmitt 1998, Nason 1974).
Based on survey rounds 3 and 9 of the ESS, we take up this debate by comparing the values of members born between 1955 and 1964 (Generation B), 1965 and 1980 (Generation X) and 1981 and 1995 (Generation Y) from 16 European countries in terms of their value setting from a comparative perspective. Building on the theory of basic human values (Schwarz 1992), we specifically examine the question of whether there are characteristic differences between the value profiles of the birth cohorts referred to as specific generations and whether they could qualify as independent units when differentiated from one another. In addition to a direct cohort comparison, the motivational goals of Generation B and X, aged 39 to 50, and Generation X and Y, aged 25 to 38, are compared.
Preliminary results show partial cross-national and also education- and gender-specific differences in the value setting of Generation Y compared to Generation B and their peers in Generation X, but not compared to their peers in Generation X at the time of the survey. The different form of the value profiles of the younger and older members of Generation X points to intra-cohort differences or age effects, so that there is little evidence for the expectation of distinct generational profiles.
Generational Perspectives on Western European Democracy: The changing influence of political and economic drivers of satisfaction with democracy
Xavier Romero-Vidal2, David Talukder1
1Université de Namur, Belgium; 2Universidad Carlos 3 de Madrid
A crucial factor for the survival of democracies is the extent to which democratic attitudes are widespread in a society. Yet, in a context of increasing dissatisfaction in Western Europe, some studies suggest that younger generations express lower levels of democratic support. In this article, we take a step back and explore the generational differences in democratic attitudes. In particular, we identify some of the factors considered by new generations when evaluating the performance of West European democracies. Bringing the newly of-age Generation Z into the picture, we investigate the political drivers of satisfaction with democracy of this cohort and contrast it with those of older generations. Our results show that younger cohorts' satisfaction with democracy is more influenced by economic conditions than previous cohorts, and that ideological congruence matter less for them. The results highlight the importance of considering the economic well-being and needs of the youth to address their disenchantment with democracy.
Old habits die hard - on the impact of political socialisation on attitudes towards democracy.
Michal Kotnarowski
Institute of Philosophy and Sociology Polish Academy of Sciences, Poland
Given the challenges to contemporary democracies from populism, illiberalism and authoritarianism, it seems crucial to understand the sources of general attitudes towards democracy. We understand these attitudes broadly here. They are normative views on democracy, satisfaction with democracy, political efficacy or trust in political institutions. Intergenerational differences are perceived as one of the factors explaining attitudes towards democracy. Theoretical considerations indicate that intergenerational differences result from early political socialisation and its period (Mishler and Rose 2007). In particular, it may be relevant whether the first political experience occurred when the country had a democratic or an authoritarian regime (Neundorf 2010). Theoretical considerations also consider "the living through model" according to which attitudes towards democracy depend on the time of exposure to a democratic regime - living more years in the democratic regime should induce stronger support for attitudes consistent with the regime ideology (Tucker & Pop-Eleches 2017).
This paper will present empirical analyses to test hypotheses about the influence of the period of early socialisation and life experiences on broader attitudes about democracy. To date, analyses of intergenerational differences in attitudes towards democracy have been conducted with reference to a single country or group of countries. Our study will take advantage of the analytical possibilities offered by the ESS data and carry out analyses in a broad comparative framework covering European countries. Our analyses will focus on the attitudes of groups whose early political socialisation occurred in the period of authoritarian regimes, i.e. the older generation in the post-communist countries and some southern European countries (Spain, Portugal). We will also look at the attitudes of those whose beginnings of political consciousness were at a time of democratic backsliding in their countries, i.e. the young generations of Hungarians and Poles. We will contrast the attitudes of these groups with the views of other generations in their countries and countries with a long tradition of stable democracy.
We will analyse data collected within the ESS rotating module "Understandings and evaluations of democracy" (2012, 2020) and data from the ESS core questionnaire on issues such as political interest, political efficacy, political trust, political participation, and satisfaction with democracy. The analytical technique used in the paper will mainly be Age-Period-Cohort Analysis.
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