United States Participation in the 2016-17 World Values Survey

Regents Of The University Of Michigan - Ann Arbor, Ann Arbor MI

Investigators

Abstract

SES- 1628141 Jon Miller Ronald Inglehart University of Michigan This award supports the participation of the United States in the 7th cycle (2016-7) of the World Values Survey (WVS). The WVS was initiated in 1981 with substantial leadership from the United States. Over the last 36 years, the WVS has been the only source of information on mass values and attitudes from countries containing the majority of the world's population. The availability of data from the WVS makes it possible to analyze (1) the impact of economic and technological change on people?s values, and (2) the impact of individual-level values and beliefs on societal-level characteristics such as the extent to which a society has democratic values. The WVS includes a set of items measuring attitudes toward science and technology. Current controversies over topics such as global climate change, genetically modified foods, and infectious diseases illustrate the importance of understanding the formation and distribution of these attitudes. The WVS is built on a general model of individual attitude formation that includes the early influence of family, the social norms and culture of an individual?s community, and broader societal beliefs about religion and economic systems. A common questionnaire is constructed by scholars from more than 50 countries and is administered in each country using methods and modes appropriate to that country. The social, economic, and political values of individuals are changing and these changes have a major impact on a wide range of societal expectations and public policies. These values also have a major influence on the extent to which a society has good governance and democratic institutions. In order to make effective policy, it is important for policy makers to be informed about these trends and the reasons underlying them. Numerous scholars have used WVS data in analyzing social change, producing hundreds of books and more than 1,000 articles. More than 100,000 students and faculty from all six continents downloaded data and information from the 6th cycle of the WVS. These data have also been used for instructional purposes by many social scientists : one publisher estimates that more than 50,000 students use WVS data with their textbooks each year.