Decomposition of Value Change in European Societies in 1995-2008 : Test of Modernization Model and Socialization Hypothesis

The research tests a modernization model (Welzel et al. 2003; Inglehart-Welzel 2009; 2010) applied to post-socialist societies in comparison with West European countries. The linear decomposition analysis of integrated World Values Survey (waves WVS1994-1999, WVS1999-2004, WVS2005-2007) and European Values Study (waves EVS1999-2001, EVS2008-2010) data showed that Inglehart’s socialization hypothesis (Inglehart 1990), which is related to a fundamental emancipative shift in values, was true for both selected West European and post-socialist countries with minor exceptions. However, the study demonstrates that the observed variability in value change in different countries in Europe is due to specific country-level contextual effects and not the population turnover. This finding confronts the assumption of exclusiveness of socialization against historical period in forming value orientations. Nevertheless the study supports in part the tested modernization model and proves that post-socialist societies (including Post-soviet) can follow a path of development which is similar to advanced Western Europe if the economic security increases