Within and Between-Country Value Diversity in Europe: Latent Class Analysis

In order to combine a study of within-country value diversity and cross-country differences, we applied a person-centered approach. Instead of focusing on the distinct value items, respondents from the 33 European countries were classified on the basis of the whole set of Schwartz value items (Portrait Values Questionnaire) by means of Latent Class Analysis. Six Pan-European value classes were found; they differ both by rank of values and degree of value preferences. Surprisingly, a class with the least pronounced value preferences appeared to be the largest one (38%). In each country all six value classes are represented. Nordic and Western European countries have more uniform distributions of value class shares than Post-Communist and Mediterranean countries; this is suggested to be an implication of societal developmental processes which start from the few people who commit themselves to the values of more advanced countries.