Conference Agenda

The analysis of values holds a central position in today's social research, conceptualizing them as "organized and relatively enduring systems of preferences." Values are expressed within a particular culture, understood in its anthropological sense as an "extensive and varied aggregate of characteristics that, at its limit, is synonymous with the very notion of society" (Almeida, 1994).

It’s in this context that the sociological perspective examines the significance of values in themselves and as inducers of behaviors. Simultaneously, it explores their roots in social classes, their intersection with gender and its hierarchies, implications for groups and individuals, while not neglecting the larger aggregates constituted by nation-states and their potential differential identities at this level.

The objective of this communication is to demonstrate how class structures and gender significantly shape the patterns of certain national sociopolitical values, based on data provided by several rounds of the European Social Survey. Therefore, these values will be related both to gender and social classes, categorized into six groups: entrepreneurs and executives; liberal professionals; technical and managerial professionals; independent workers; performing employees and laborers.

The sociology of social classes in Portugal was undeniably shaped by the impact of research conducted by the sociologist João Ferreira de Almeida (1941-2022). In collaboration with António Firmino da Costa and Fernando Luís Machado, for instance, Almeida contributed to the development of a theoretical-methodological model – the ACM typology – important for operationalizing the analysis of Portuguese social classes. In broad terms, the typology articulates occupations and employment status in a classification matrix of individuals into seven social classes: i) entrepreneurs and executives; ii) professionals and managers; iii) self-employed workers; iv) self-employed farmers; v) routine employees; vi) agricultural workers; and vii) industrial workers. Since its development, this model has been applied in various studies over time, conducted by a significant number of researchers interested in the phenomenon of social classes. However, to what extent is the ACM typology still heuristically valid for examining the social stratification of contemporary Portuguese society? To what extent does this typology remain efficient for classifying individuals with a view to analysing attitudes and social values in Portugal? The objective of this communication is to provide answers to these and other questions to test the potential of the ACM typology through the exploration of data collected and made available by the European Social Survey (ESS). To do so, the results of an analysis developed using different data analysis methods applied to axes continuously explored by the ESS will be presented. In this way, the aim is to explore the potential of the ACM typology through a systematic analysis of the differences in social classes not only in terms of their sociodemographic profiles but also regarding their social values and political attitudes, especially concerning their political orientations and forms of political participation, understanding and evaluation of different elements of democracy, levels of subjective well-being, and perceptions they have about topics sensitive to social life, data obtained through the ESS.

The value of equality is growing in contemporary society and politics.

In this communication we present some results of a research aiming at evaluating the importance of the human value of equality in Portuguese society between 2002 and 2020.

We will show in particular its weight in the electoral basis of the Portuguese political parties with parliamentary representation.

We use the data of all ESS applications since 2002.

Preliminary results show that the value of equality is significantly important and spread in Portuguese society, and also among those who vote.

There are some differences between the electoral basis of the Portuguese parties with parliamentary representation when considering the importance they give to the value of equality, but these differences aren't dramatic.

Secularisation in Europe is one of the most consensual findings in the sociology of religion today. Secularisation leads to the decline of adult religiosity through cohort replacement meaning that younger generations are increasingly less religious. Framed by this theoretical apparatus, this presentation intends to analyse religiosity of young people (15-34 years old) in all European countries using ESS data from 2002 to 2020. Religiosity variables are religious belonging, frequency of religious services attendance, and frequency of prayer, which are synthesised in an index. In sum, this presentation offers a broad picture of youth religiosity in Europe over time based on ESS data and its comparison between types of countries.