Cultural, Economic, and Social Developments

Mexico ◽  
2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Roderic Ai Camp

What are Mexican religious beliefs and religious relationships? The World Values Survey, which is the most comprehensive global survey of citizen values and attitudes, clearly demonstrates that Mexicans view themselves as strong believers in God. Indeed, 98 percent said they believed in God, compared with...

2021 ◽  
pp. 026858092096201
Author(s):  
Chan S Suh

How does religion shape individual decisions to participate in protests? On the one hand, past literature from Tocqueville’s perspective has suggested that people’s involvement in religious activities leads to engagement in civic activities. On the other hand, the Marxist approach has pointed to the possibility that one’s religious belief may rather lead to decreasing participation in civil society. Combining these two conflicting perspectives, this study examines the influence of religious beliefs and activities on protest participation, an increasingly important form of civic participation in contemporary times. Using the World Values Survey across 48 countries, the author’s findings provide support for the Marxist approach by suggesting that people’s religious beliefs are significantly and negatively associated with one’s participation in protests especially in non-Western religions. Additionally, while the results fail to support the Tocquevillian perspective that one’s religious activities are directly related to protest participation, religious activities do have a countervailing effect by minimizing the negative influence of religious beliefs people hold on protest participation. This study provides important implications to further our understanding on the paradoxical relationship between religion and civic participation.


2015 ◽  
Vol 37 (2) ◽  
pp. 143-164
Author(s):  
Adam Okulicz-Kozaryn

Freedom and life satisfaction are desirable conditions and they both have a special meaning in Eastern Europe — transition was largely about gaining freedom and ultimately overall wellbeing. There are several studies about the effect of freedom on life satisfaction, but none of them focuses on Eastern Europe. I investigate the effect of self-reported freedom on life satisfaction in post-transition Eastern Europe using the World Values Survey. Surprisingly, East Europeans feel less free and less satisfied with their lives than other nationals. But a personal feeling of freedom increases their life satisfaction at a higher rate than in other countries. Freedom is a strong predictor of life satisfaction as compared to national income.


Author(s):  
Adam Laats

By the 1950s, tensions within the world of fundamentalism led to a new effort at reform. Self-proclaimed neo-evangelical reformers hoped to strip away some of the unnecessary harshness of fundamentalist traditions while remaining truly evangelical Christians. Often these reforms were personified in the revival campaigns of evangelist Billy Graham. The network of fundamentalist schools struggled to figure out its relationship to this new divide in the fundamentalist family. Some schools embraced the reform, while others decried it. At the same time, faculty members at all the schools wrestled with strict supervision of their religious beliefs and teaching. From time to time, schools purged suspect faculty members, as in the 1953 firing of Ted Mercer at Bob Jones University.


Author(s):  
Bjorn Lous ◽  
Johan Graafland

AbstractLiterature has established that, on a macroeconomic level, income inequality has a negative effect on average life satisfaction. An unresolved question is, however, which income groups are harmed by income inequality. In this paper we investigate this relationship at the microeconomic level combining national indicators of income inequality with individual data of life satisfaction from the World Values Survey for 39 countries over a period of 25 years. Tests on moderation by income category show that the Gini coefficient is most negatively related to life satisfaction of the lowest income groups, but the negative effects also extends to other income groups. For the income share of the top 1% we find a similar result. These findings show that income inequality is especially a concern for the lower income groups, but that the harmful effect of income inequality also spillovers to the life satisfaction of other income groups.


2013 ◽  
Vol 5 (1) ◽  
pp. 155-175 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hou Yuxin

Abstract The Wukan Incident attracted extensive attention both in China and around the world, and has been interpreted from many different perspectives. In both the media and academia, the focus has very much been on the temporal level of the Incident. The political and legal dimensions, as well as the implications of the Incident in terms of human rights have all been pored over. However, what all of these discussions have overlooked is the role played by religious force during the Incident. The village of Wukan has a history of over four hundred years, and is deeply influenced by the religious beliefs of its people. Within both the system of religious beliefs and in everyday life in the village, the divine immortal Zhenxiu Xianweng and the religious rite of casting shengbei have a powerful influence. In times of peace, Xianweng and casting shengbei work to bestow good fortune, wealth and longevity on both the village itself, and the individuals who live there. During the Wukan Incident, they had a harmonizing influence, and helped to unify and protect the people. Looking at the specific roles played by religion throughout the Wukan Incident will not only enable us to develop a more meaningful understanding of the cultural nature and the complexity of the Incident itself, it will also enrich our understanding, on a divine level, of innovations in social management.


2008 ◽  
Vol 41 (2) ◽  
pp. 437-460 ◽  
Author(s):  
Olena Nikolayenko

Abstract. Regime change in Eastern Europe affords an excellent opportunity for investigating linkages between age and politics in times of social turmoil. Using data from three waves of the World Values Survey, this paper explores life cycle, generational and period effects on protest potential in Yeltsin's Russia. The study finds that an individual's position in the life cycle is the strongest predictor of protest potential in the post-communist state. Furthermore, the analysis suggests that citizens socialized during periods of relative socioeconomic stability exhibit the highest protest potential under conditions of uncertainty characteristic of the transition period.Résumé. Les changements de régime en Europe de l'Est permettent d'examiner la relation complexe entre l'âge et la politique pendant les périodes d'instabilité sociale. S'appuyant sur les données de trois vagues du World Values Survey (sondage mondial sur les valeurs), cet article explore l'incidence du cycle de vie, de la génération et de la période sur le potentiel protestataire dans la Russie d'Eltsine. L'étude démontre que la position de l'individu dans le cycle de vie est le plus puissant facteur de prédiction du potentiel protestataire dans la société postcommuniste. En outre, les citoyens socialisés pendant des périodes de relative stabilité socio-économique présentent le potentiel protestataire le plus élevé dans des conditions d'incertitude caractéristiques de la période de transition.


2021 ◽  
Vol 12 (1) ◽  
pp. 91-101
Author(s):  
Ana-Maria Zamfir ◽  
Anamaria Năstasă ◽  
Anamaria Beatrice Aldea ◽  
Raluca Mihaela Molea

Like other postmodern structures, post-industrial labour markets display more frequent and rapid changes and higher unpredictability. In these conditions, the world of work is less capable in providing individuals stable signals for the construction of their behaviours. This paper aims to examine both macro and micro factors that shape labour market participation and expectations related to employment outcomes. We explore statistical data from the World Values Survey Wave 7 (2017-2020) collected from almost seventy thousands individuals around the world. Focusing on subjective evaluations of expected employment outcomes, our results are relevant for better understanding labour market participation from a postmodern perspective.


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