Lifecycle, generational, and period effects on emancipative values in Serbia

Abstract

The aim of this paper is to analyse the lifecycle, generational, and period effects on emancipative value preferences in Serbia. The data used in the analysis was collected in the World Values Survey (WVS), conducted in Serbia in 1996 (N = 1,280), 2006 (N = 1,220), and 2017 (N = 1,046), respectively. As a proxy measure of the respondents’ lifecycle stage, the recoded age variable (young/middle-aged/ elderly) was used. Based on the age period during which a person spent their formative years (15–24 years of age), a sixfold typology of political generation membership was constructed. The year in which the survey was conducted was used as a measure of period effects. The results indicate that emancipative values were more likely to be embraced by younger respondents (r = .22**) and in survey waves after 2000 (r = .17**), and less by the members of the socialist generation (p < .01) than by those generations who spent their formative years after 2000, omnibus F(5, 3440) = 58.19**. The results reveal a complex relationship between lifecycle, generational, and period effects on emancipative values and call into question the exclusive importance that is usually attributed to generational differences in theory. The conclusion outlines possible implications for the theory of human empowerment and practical implications for the possibility of value change in Serbian society.