International Projects

Center for Sociocultural Research

Social and psychological consequences of economic and cultural change: cross-cultural analysis (ТЗ_86_2015)

Heads of the project:

• Seger Breugelmans, PhD, University of Tilburg, the Netherlands.
• Nadezhda Lebedeva, PhD, Organizational Psychology Department, National Research University Higher School of Economics, Moscow, Russia.

Science counselor:

• Shalom Schwartz, PhD, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Israel.

International partners: 

I. Plotka, PhD, Baltic Psychology and Management University College, Latvia
A. Knafo, PhD, Hebrew University, Israel
М. Zeelenberg, PhD, Tilburg University, The Netherlands
K. Boehnke, PhD, Jacobs University, Germany

Project description:

Socio-economic, political and cultural transformations of the last two decades after the collapse of the Soviet Union has led to serious social and psychological changes among the citizens of post-soviet countries, both profound ( in values and behaviors) and superficial (in attitudes and social representations).

Therefore, three research tasks are topical: firstly, to identify similarities and differences in values ​​and attitudes among representatives of three generations of Russians, living in different states. Secondly, to study channels of values’ transmission ​​across countries and generations. Thirdly, to conduct a study of intergenerational transmission of values ​​among North Caucasus inhabitants.

It is important to study factors affecting the mechanisms of social capital and social capital influence on individual behavior. One of the research area will be devoted to the experimental study of the influence of social capital and values ​​on corrupt behavior approval. Nowadays the problem of the impact of ethnic and cultural heterogeneity in Russia on social capital of citizens is crucial. Previous results of studies of cultural diversity's impact on social capital are very inconsistent, and moreover in Russia this issue was not studied yet.

Another topical issue is examination of values that characterize representatives of various groups and strata of Russian society. Even though society stratification is being discussed in periodicals, there is no research that investigates the socio-psychological effects (e.g. changes in values​​) among those staying below poverty line. Another problem that requires detailed examination is changes in consumer behavior among Russians. Considering these issues is very significant due to the need to improve the quality of life in Russia.

The goal of the project: 

The goal of the project is to study the social and psychological effects of economic and cultural change.

Due to complexity of the subject a number of relatively independent studies (6 studies) will be conducted. Those studies highlight the subject of the project from different angles.

Aims of the project: 

1)     To analyze the relation of personal values ​​(based on new S.Schwartz's methodology) to behaviors either encouraged or inhibited by values.  To study value differences among members of different social categories (the inhabitants of different regions, urban and rural populations, various religious groups' members).
2)     To conduct multi-level analysis of ethnic majority's and ethnic minorities' values on attitudes towards cultural diversity in Russian regions with different ethnic heterogeneity levels.
3)     Cross-regional analysis of values ​​and socio-demographic characteristics influence on creative behavior.
4)     To develop and test the methodology of international socio-psychological research of values and attitudes transmission in three generations belonging to one family from the former Soviet Union, Central Russia, and the republics of the North Caucasus.
5)     To study the influence of ethnic diversity on social capital in Russian regions. To develop methodology of experimental studies of the social capital's effect on the predispositions to corrupt behavior.
6)     To identify socio-psychological characteristics of people with different level of income, to study psychological effects of poverty on economic decision-making processes (e.g. consumer behavior).

Staff involved S.Schwartz, S.Breugelmans, J.Berry, V.Galyapina, L.Grigoryan, D. Dubrov, Zharov D., N.Lebedeva, Z.Lepshokova, Lipatova A., Kanonire T., Mironova A., O.Patosha, O.Poluektova, V.Ponizovsky, T.Ryabichenko, Tatarko A., Sivova A. Titov A., Khaptsova A, S.Chuvashov

Laboratory for Research in Inflation and Growth

EU-KLEMS Project

Detecting the sources of economic growth is one of the key tasks for formulating the economic policy. One of the approaches to its solution are cross-country comparisons and the analysis of reasons of difference in productivity. But by contrast to cross-country comparisons of economies as a whole, the industry-level perspective provides more detailed and realistic data for analysis, since the nature of growth in agriculture, mining, manufacturing, and financial services could be different.Moreover, growth can be explained not only by changes in productivity within industries, but also by the reallocation of labour and capital inputs among them. This growth enhancing reallocation, according to recent studies, characterizes successful, rapidly developing economies. Until recently, the key obstacle to studying Russian economy using industry-level cross-country comparisons has been the lack of data. Researchers haven’t had an equivalent system of industry indicators for a comparatively long period, since 1995, harmonized with similar data for other countries. The EU KLEMS initiative addresses this gap.

In 2003, a consortium of 16 research, analytical, and statistical organizations has been created with the support of the European Commission, OECD, and Eurostat. The project was named EU KLEMS. The aim of this research project is to analyze productivity in the European Union at the industry level. In order to be able to perform such analyses, a database on measures of economic growth, productivity, employment creation, capital formation and technological change at the industry level, using a 63-industry breakdown for the major of the EU’s 25 Member States as well as for the US, Japan and Canada, from 1970 onwards (1990 for the recently acceded Member States). Today the project also involves some Asian and Latin American countries.

More information on the EU KLEMS project is available on its website.

Laboratory for Comparative Studies in Mass Consciousness

European Social Survey

Together with the Institute for Comparative Social Research, the Laboratory participates in coordinating the Russian part of the European Social Survey (ESS). Vladimir Magun represents Russia in the International Scientific Advisory Board of the ESS.

European Social Survey website

Website of the European Social Survey in Russia