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FRIHUMSAM-Fri prosj.st. hum og sam

The Norwegian part of the 2017/2018 European Values Study

Alternative title: Den norske delen av den europeiske verdiundersøkelsen 2017/2018

Awarded: NOK 5.3 mill.

The study of a potential value-conservative backlash as the root of authoritarian populism in Norway, does not receive much empirical support. The support for authoritarian populism in Norway is basically rooted in anti-immigrant attitudes, and it is the Christian Democratic Party that stand for value-conservatism, to a much lesser extent, the populist Progress Party. The study of the alleged backlash in Poland, Hungary, Italy and Norway (Baro and Jenssen) suggests that the model fits Italy, but not the three other countries. In Poland, social conservatism was never threatened, in Hungary the support for Fidez is mainly rooted in aggressive nationalism, and Norway passed the ?tipping point? in the struggle between conservative and liberal values in the late 1970s. A study of the emotional arousal among voters linked to four party leaders and what they "stand for" shows that negative affect exists even in countries with multiparty systems, crossing lines of conflict, known for their pragmatism and consensus culture. The pattern of emotional arousal shows that voters may reach with both positive and negative emotions to the same politician, but that the moderate positive feelings are the most common (Jenssen 2022, forthcoming). Voters may develop strong negative feelings towards some party leaders for several reasons. With increasing distance in political space the hostility tend to increase, the stronger the identification with one party the more likely the development of negative feelings towards other parties, and populist voters tend to dislike elitist politicians, and likewise, voters with elitist-attitudes dislike populist politicians. (Baro and Jenssen 2022, work in progress).

Et overordnet mål for prosjektet var å bidra til å framskaffe førsteklasses data fra Norge til den femte bølgen av data i European Values Survey. Dette målet er nådd. Vi vet mer om politikken, kulturen og det sosiale livet i Europeiske land som en følge av dette prosjektet. Dessuten gir datasettet grunnlag for å øke kunnskapen i årene framover. Et sekundært mål har vært å knytte norske samfunnsforskere og norske miljøer opp mot internasjonale forskernettverk. På grunn av pandemien er dette målet enda ikke nådd. Arbeidet med å nå målet fortsetter. Et annet sekundært mål har vært å føre stipendiater og en post.doc. fram til et høyere kompetansenivå. Dette arbeidet er i ferd med å lykkes, men stipendiatene er forsinket, delvis fordi fordi de har blitt sosialt isolerte under pandemien.

The projects main objectives are (a) to ensure Norway's future participation in the EVS-project and access to the invaluable EVS/WVS data-set for Norwegian and international researchers, (b) to initiate excellent comparative research of great relevance to Norway and Europe in seven specific areas, and (c) to address some of the "big issues" in value change theory through advanced multilevel modeling. The projects secondary objective is to introduce a new generation of researchers to this field by - among other things - the training of two Ph.D. candidates. The seven areas are: (1) the level and sources of social capital under three different welfare state regimes, (2) the public's response to increased economic and social inequities, (3) the dynamics of trust in political institutions, (4) the new wave of migration and social, economic and cultural conflicts, (5) the hidden structural roots of European populism, (6) support for civil liberties and perceptions of external and internal threats in the new cold war, and (7) whether the new personalized religion are relational or individualized. A set of propositions for empirical testing has been developed for each of these areas. Several propositions are comparative and call for the use of multilevel models to correctly estimate effects across countries and time. Some of Norway's best researchers in this field have joined the research team, and the Department of Sociology and Political Science at NTNU has a strong record for research based on large comparative data-sets. The EVS/WVS data-set offers unique opportunities to test these propositions and many, many more. The research team will actively invite other researchers to make use of the data-set in their fields of research. In addition to the fields of research discussed in the application, the data-set covers family-values, work related values, support for norms and laws, position on ethical problems (abortion, euthanasia, etc.) and psycho-social well being.

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FRIHUMSAM-Fri prosj.st. hum og sam