RELIGION AND POLITICAL VALUES IN CENTRAL AND EASTERN EUROPE
RELIGION AND POLITICAL VALUES IN CENTRAL AND EASTERN EUROPE

Summary/Abstract: The aim of the paper is to study the change of the relation between religiosity and political attitudes in the first decade after the fall of the communism. The basic theoretical background is Lipset and Rokkan’s cleavage theory (1967), as well as the secularization thesis. On the empirical basis of the 1990 and 1999 waves of the European Values Study, the changing effects of religiosity on party preference, left-right ideological self-identification and political participation are investigated. As alternative explanatory factor to “cleavages”, Inglehart’s postmateralism-index (1990) was also introduced in the analysis. The micro-level scrutiny of contextual effects of denominational affiliation and the level of secularization is employed for explaining cross-country differences at the macro level.

• Details
• Contents