Modernization process in Russia: Can we expect the shift to emancipative values?

Abstract

In their version of modernization theory, R. Inglehart and K. Welzel suggest that younger cohorts socialized under conditions of existential security are the main drivers of post-materialist values and modernization process. In this paper, we test this thesis based on five waves of the World Values Survey fielded in Russia and covering the period from 1990 to 2017. We use age-period-cohort analysis, which disentangles the effects of age, time period and cohorts. We implement a method of measuring emancipative values proposed by K. Welzel. His emancipative values consist of four different indices: «autonomy», «equality», «choice», and «voice». The results show that younger cohorts in Russia do have a higher level of emancipative values as suggested by the theory. The basis for the transformation of values is three indices out of four: «autonomy», «choice», and «voice». «Equality» is the only index that showed neither age nor cohort differences.

Acknowledgment. This article is supported by the Russian Science Foundation under grant no. 18-18-00341 «Transformation of values and subjective quality of life: A regional perspective».