Comparing Roman Catholics, Protestants, Eastern
Orthodox, Moslems, Jews and religiously unaffiliated across 33 countries
Shalom H. Schwartz
National Research University—Higher School of
Economics, Moscow and
The Hebrew University of Jerusalem
October 17, 2012

• Religion as a cause: Does people’s religion affect what they consider the most important guiding principles in their lives?
• A telephoto snapshot: How do the basic values of adherents of Western monotheistic religions differ?
• Alternative causes: What else besides religion might account for these value differences?
• Solving the mystery: What value differences are attributable to religion?

• European Social Survey, 2002-2010, 5 rounds
• Representative national samples 33 countries
– Face-to-face interviews
– Age 15-102 years
– Who responded to at least 19/21 value items
– Who said belong to a religion or denomination classifiable as one of the following or reported do not have a religion:
Roman Catholic
Protestant
Eastern Orthodox Jewish
Muslim No religion

33 ESS Countries in Study
Russia

Roman Catholicism
Austria
Belgium
Croatia
Czech Republic
France
Hungary
Ireland
Italy
Lithuania
Luxembourg
Poland
Portugal
Slovenia
Slovakia
Spain
Switzerland
Protestantism Eastern Orthodoxy
Denmark
Estonia
Finland
Germany
Latvia
Netherlands
Norway
Sweden
United Kingdom
Bulgaria
Cyprus
Greece
Romania
Russia
Ukraine
Judaism
Israel
Islam
Turkey

• Do you consider yourself as belonging to
(identifying with) any particular religion or denomination? Yes/No
• If yes: Which one? [open ended]
No Religion 75,336 Roman Catholics 61,607
Protestants 28,486 Eastern Orthodox 19,911
Moslems 8,125 Jews 5,326
Total N= 198,791
(19333 missing or not classifiable in above categories)

Basic Values Continuum

 21 PVQ style items to tap 10 basic values
 Describe a person in terms of his/her important goals
 “It is important to him/her to have a good time and enjoy life“(Hedonism)
 Rate how similar to self: 6pt scale (not at all …… very)
 Reveals, how important the goal is to respondent
 Analyze invariance of values across 6 religious groups with multi-group CFA
 Obtained partial scalar invariance after combining related values to form 6 values
 Permits comparison of group means
 Used individually centered mean scores in analyses
 r >.9 for correlations of each of 6 values with latent scores across groups (mean r = .96)

Basic Values
Universalism
Benevolence
UNBE
Self-Direction
Stimulation
SDST
HE
Hedonism
COTR
Conformity
Tradition
SE
Security
POAC
Achievement
Power

GOAL EXEMPLARY ITEMS
It is important to him/her to
Power/Achievement: control of people & resources, status, success, showing competence be in charge and tell others what to do be very successful, impress others
Hedonism: pleasure & sensuous have a good time and enjoy life gratification for oneself take every opportunity to have fun
Self-direction/Stimulation: independent thought & action, creativity, excitement, challenge be curious, try to understand everything look for adventures, have an exciting life

GOAL EXEMPLARY ITEMS
It is important to him/her to
Universalism/Benevolence: appreciation, tolerance, caring for welfare of others & nature justice and equality help & care for other people protect the environment
Conformity/Tradition: restraint of impulses, acceptance of social expectations, customs, traditions follow rules avoid upsetting other people keep family or religious traditions
Security: safety, stability, harmony avoid anything dangerous to his/her of society, relationships & self safety have a stable government & orderly society

4,8
4,6
4,4
4,2
4
3,4
3,2
3,8
3,6
Secur
Snapshot: Population Values by Religion
RCath
Mslm
Prot
Jew
EOrth
None
ConfTrad SDirStim Hedon PowAch UnivBene

Security
EO> RC> J> NR= P> M
Confrmty/Traditn M= RC> EO> P> J> NR
Slf-Dirctn/Stimltn NR> P> J> RC= M> EO
Hedonism J= NR> P> M> RC> EO
Power/Achievmnt M> J= EO> NR> RC> P
Univrslm/Benvlnc P> RC> NR> J= EO> M
But are the observed differences due to religion?

• Individual differences among religious groups
– Age, education, gender, immigrant status, religiosity
Age Education
Years
Religiosity
(.3-7.1 scale)
%
Female
%
Immigrants
R Catholic 47.6 (18.5) 11.5 (4.3) 4.1 (1.5) 54% 5%
Protestant 51.6
(18.0) 12.8 (3.7)
E Orthodox 46.6 (18.0) 11.9 (3.5)
Jews
Moslems
43.1 (18.7)
38.4
(16.8)
13.4
7.7
(3.4)
(4.6)
No religion 42.0 (17.1) 12.8 (3.5)
3.6 (1.6)
3.9 (1.4)
3.3
(1.9)
5.1
(1.4)
1.7
(1.2)
57%
63%
54%
51%
48%
6%
7%
35%
8%
7%
Need to control these variables

No Controls Individual Controls
Security
Security
EO> RC> J> NR= P> M
EO> RC= J> NR> P> M
Confrmty/Traditn M= RC> EO> P> J> NR
Confrmty/Traditn RC= M= EO> P> NR= J
Slf-Dirctn/Stimltn NR> P> J> RC= M> EO
Slf-Dirctn/Stimltn P> NR> RC> M= J> EO

No Controls Individual Controls
Hedonism
Hedonism
J= NR> P> M> RC> EO
P= J> NR> RC= M> EO
Power/Achievmnt M> J= EO> NR> RC> P
Power/Achievmnt M> EO= J> NR> RC> P
Univrslm/Benvlnc P> RC> NR> J= EO> M
Univrslm/Benvlnc P> RC> NR> J= EO= M
Overall, order of religion differences changes little.
What about strength of effects? reduced or increased?

Controlling age, education, gender, immigrant status, religiosity, reduces variance religion group explains
Controls Secur ConfTrad SDirStim Hedon UnivBene PowAch
None
Individual characteristics
2.4%
2.1%
6.3.%
0.8%
3.3%
2.7%
3.0%
1.2%
4.8%
1.1%
6.5%
4.8%
Age explains mean 6.5% variance, more in all but PowAch,
Religion still explains more variance than education, gender, religiosity, or immigrant status

• Country differences confounded with religion
– Economic, security, historical, political factors
– Majority vs. minority religion in country
• Example: Finland vs. Russia ( Protestant vs. E Orthodox)
Finland
Russia
Secur ConfTrad SDirStim Hedon UnivBene PowAch
4.46
(.85)
3.95
(.78)
3.99
(.65)
3.73
(.99)
4.75
(.53)
3.04
(.77)
4.70
(.80)
3.98
(.79)
3.63
(.73)
3.40
(1.08)
4.39
(.53)
3.85
(.67)
Variance explained
2.1% 0.0% 6.1% 2.5% 10.3% 24.0%
All differences (except COTR) p<.001
But due to what? How disentangle country & religion?

Need to separate variance in values due to religion vs. country differences. How?
Examine religion differences within countries
All groups present in 22 countries with 10 or more members in sample
At least 20 members of every group present in 20 countries
Exception: Jews ≥10 in 7 countries—interpret with caution


 analyzes religion effects within each country
 averages across countries, eliminating country effects
 enables simultaneous control of individual effects
 enables examining interactions between religion & its status as majority vs. minority in countries

4,8
4,6
4,4
4,2
4
3,4
3,2
3,8
3,6
Secur
Snapshot: Population Values by Religion
RCath
Mslm
Prot
Jew
EOrth
None
ConfTrad SDirStim Hedon PowAch UnivBene

4,4
4,2
4
3,8
4,8
4,6
3,6
3,4
3,2
RCath
Jew
Prot EOrth
Moslem None
Secur ConfTrad SDirStim Hedon PowAch UnivBene

Adding control of country differences to control of age, education, gender, immig. status, religiosity
Controls
Individual characteristics
Country effects
Secur ConfTrad SDirStim Hedon UnivBene PowAch
2.1%
0.3%
0.8%
0.6%
2.7%
0.4%
1.2%
0.2%
1.1%
0.4%
4.8%
1.8%
Age & religiosity explain more variance in all values
Religion explains more variance than immigrant status in all values, but more than education or gender in only 3/6

Changes in Religion Differences Due to Controls
Security
Security
Confrmty/Traditn
Confrmty/Traditn
Slf-Dirctn/Stimltn
Slf-Dirctn/Stimltn
Hedonism
Hedonism
Power/Achievmnt
Power/Achievmnt
Univrslm/Benvlnc
Univrslm/Benvlnc
NR>
NR>
J=
J=
M>
J>
P>
P=
EO> RC>
EO> J=
J> NR=
M= RC=
P>
P>
M= RC> EO>
M> P=
P> J>
EO= RC> NR>
P>
J=
NR>
J>
P>
P>
RC=
RC=
M>
NR> RC> EO=
M>
EO>
RC>
P>
J= EO> NR>
M= EO> RC=
RC>
P=
RC> NR> J= EO>
NR> M= RC> EO=
EO
M
EO
M
P
NR
M
J
M
NR
NR
J

Security EO> J= M= RC= P> NR
Confrmty/Traditn M> P= EO= RC> NR> J
Slf-Dirctn/Stimltn NR> J= P> RC= EO> M
Hedonism J= NR> RC> EO= P> M
Power/Achievmnt J> M= EO> RC= P= NR
Univrslm/Benvlnc P= NR> M= RC> EO= J

Security
Confrmty/Traditn
Slf-Dirctn/Stimltn
Hedonism
Power/Achievmnt
EO> J= M= RC= + P> NR
M> P= EO= RC> NR> J
NR> J= P> RC= EO> M
J= NR> RC> EO= P> M -
J> M= EO> RC= P= NR
Univrslm/Benvlnc P= NR> M= RC> EO= J
+ higher where this religion is traditional majority
lower where this religion is traditional majority

Data from representative samples in 33 countries enable
1 st attempt to discern effects of religion on values
Snapshot of existing differences is misleading: Reflects
– Personal characteristics of religious group members
– Country characteristics entwined with religion
Controls reveal many changes in relative value priorities
– Order of religious groups changes most for RC & M
– Values of M most grounded in anxiety & self-protection
– NR = P most concern for others vs. own interests
– NR findings suggests personal values of openness & growth cause rejection of religion

Religion accounts for very little variance in individual values
– ignoring confounds 2 to 6.5% (ave. 4.4%)—second to age (ave.
8.5%)
– eliminating confounds .2 to 1.8% (ave .6%)—less than age, religiosity, similar to gender & education; most in POAC
Viewing religion per se as major cause of national differences in psychological variables probably wrong
– Studies confound religion with country characteristics
– Using country characteristics (e.g. HDI) to predict explains country mean differences but does not eliminate confounds from psychological variables—requires within-country analysis
Limitations
– Only Western monotheistic religions
– Only Europe, Turkey, Israel
– 5 Religions are each heterogeneous

Feedback: Shalom.Schwartz @ HUJI.ac.il

4,6
4,4
4,2
4
3,8
3,6
3,4
3,2
Correcting the Lens: Controlling Effects of
Age, Education, Gender, Immigrant Status, Religiosity
RCath
Mslm
Prot
Jew
EOrth
None
Secur ConfTrad SDirStim Hedon PowAch UnivBene

Secur
RCath Prot EOrth Mslm Jew None
4.55+ 4.511
4.59
4.56
4.556
4.476
ConfTrad 4.105
4.118
4.117
3.945
4.2643.986
SDirStim 3.757
3.779
3.746
3.7973.625
3.864
Hedon 3.698
3.6723.68
3.793
3.4893.728
PowAch 3.463.428
3.5213.669
3.526
3.421
UnivBene 4.508
4.5614.4594.432
4.514
4.553
Italic indicates a significant cross-level interaction with whether the religion is the traditional majority religion in countries
+ higher where this religion is traditional majority
- lower where this religion is traditional majority