FOREWORD

The European Values Study (EVS) project has been repeatedly carried out for six decades. Starting from the observation that Christianity in Europe has been gradually diminishing in importance, at the end of the 1970s, a group of scientists became interested in the following meaningful questions: „1. Do Europeans have shared values? 2. Are those values subject to change? And if so, in what direction? 3. Do Christian values continue to permeate European life and culture? 4. Is a coherent alternative meaning system replacing that of Christianity? 5. What are the implications for European unity?“ (Luijkx, Reeskens and Sieben, 2022, 15-21). These scientists were aware that the processes of secularization, simultaneous secularism, and, to a large extent, de-Christianization were increasingly advancing, not only in Europe but also across the world. At the same time, the process of industrialization had already been underway since the second half of the 19th century. The processes of accelerated modernization were undoubtedly prominent at that time, particularly in Western democratic European countries. Moreover, the emerging individualism and relativism supported by computerization and liberal trends of various kinds, in a word, changes across various social directions, including the values area, were becoming more than obvious. The Catholic Church, as the largest representative of Christianity in Europe and in the world, was also aware of all these events to a certain extent. The Second Vatican Council (1962-1965) with its documents and messages both ad intra and ad extra represents a certain response to these and similar signs of change. A particular contribution was made by the then Pope Paul VI, who had completed the Second Vatican Council. Back in the 1970s he pointed out the difference between secularization and secularism, whereby secularization is a justified endeavour, while secularism is unacceptable for the Church (Pope Paul VI, 1976, no. 55).1

Starting from the dynamism and transformation of values, the European Values System Study Group (EVSSG) was founded in 1981 un-

1 Pope Paul VI in no.55 of „Evangelii nuntiandi“ states that, on the one hand, secularization „which is the effort, in itself just and legitimate and in no way incompatible with faith or religion, to discover in creation, in each thing or each happening in the universe, the laws which regulate them with a certain autonomy, but with the inner conviction that the Creator has placed these laws there“. On the other hand, secularism is „a concept of the world according to which the latter is self-explanatory, without any need for recourse to God, who thus becomes superfluous and an encumbrance. This sort of secularism, in order to recognize the power of man, therefore ends up by doing without God and even by denying Him.“ der the leadership of Ruud de Moor (Tilburg University, Netherlands) and Jan Kerkhofs (Catholic University Leuven, Belgium) with the aim of empirical research of moral and social values with the intention of supporting European social and political institutions. Within the scientific research project European Values Study (EVS) five research waves have been carried out thus far. The first wave of survey was conducted in 1981 in ten countries of the European Union. The second wave was launched in 1990 in 27 European countries and expanded to include countries in Central and Eastern Europe following the fall of the Iron Curtain and the Berlin Wall. The second wave EVS Questionnaire in 1990 was more or less a copy of the Questionnaire from the first wave. It should be pointed out that in the mid-1990s, the World Values Study (WVS) was launched under the leadership of Ronald Inglehart. The third EVS wave, carried out in 1999, extended to 33 countries. Several new topics were added in the third wave Questionnaire – values, especially related to the elderly, the sick and the infirm, as well as immigrants, as well as topics such as social capital, social networks, trust and civil engagement, and the phenomenon of solidarity, democracy and work-related values. The fourth wave of the European Values Study took place in 2018 spanning no less than 47 European countries, making the research „par excellence with the widest geographical area in Europe“ covering 800 million Europeans. The fourth wave in particular provided an insight into all the wealth of similarities and differences in relation to values across the whole of Europe. The Questionnaire remained largely identical to the third wave Questionnaire. Finally, the fifth EVS wave was conducted in 2017 in 39 European countries. A close collaboration between the EVS and the WVS project was established during the fifth EVS wave. In the „WVS and EVS questionnaires, a common core for data collection was realized“ (Luijkx, Reeskens and Sieben, 2022, 20). In other words, the EVS project, on the one hand, retained the majority of the questions from the earlier questionnaires, and on the other hand, each participating member in the EVS project could add country-specific questions at the end of the core Questionnaire. The advantage of these additional questions is that each participating country can compare its data, for example, from the third, fourth and fifth waves of research. On the other hand, the omission of some questions from the previous waves does not allow for a comparison between participating European countries in relation to certain questions or values.

Lastly, it should be acknowledge that the sixth EVS wave is planned for 2026.

Up to now, dozens of books have been published with interpretations and comments on the obtained results/data from all five EVS research waves, and over a hundred papers have been written in several world languages. The published books, on the one hand, are the result of the work of the national EVS teams, and they deal with and comment on the EVS results either focused only on their own country or in comparison with all or only with selected European participating members. On the other hand, the books, which are often published by participating national teams, in addition to national researchers, are authored and co-authored by scholars from other European countries. We should also recognize three Atlases, that have been prepared and published by the EVS headquarters in Tilburg over the course of the last twenty years. The atlases contain figures, interpretation and charts that outline and comment certain research waves, in words and in figures. The first is the Atlas of European Values published in 2005, (Halman, Luijkx and van Zundert, 2005), the second was published in 2011 under the title Atlas of European Values: Trends and Traditions at the turn of the Century (Halman, Sieben and van Zundert, 2011), while the Atlas of European Values: Change and Continuity in Turbulent Times (Halman, Reeskens, Sieben i van Zundert, 2022.) was published in 2022. In all these atlases, Croatia is listed alongside the other European participating members in the EVS project. Furthermore, at the invitation of the Croatian team, the Second EVS Workshop was held in Zagreb from 8 to 11 June 2010, on completion of the second EVS wave. Correspondingly, Josip Baloban (EVS Croatia Programme Director), Ivan Rimac (EVS Methodology Group member) and Gordan Črpić (EVS Theory Group member) have over the years participated in several EVS meetings across Europe.

Croatia joined the European Values Study project through the Catholic Faculty of Theology, University of Zagreb in 1998. Notably, the head of the European Values Study (EVS) project at the time, Dr. Loek Halman asserted that, „Croatia’s inclusion in the research in 1999 gives us a unique opportunity to compare the fundamental values of the Croatian people with the values of people in Western and Eastern European countries, and to explore similarities and diversity“2. Croatia has so far participated in the third wave of EVS research in 1999, then in the fourth wave in 2008, and in the fifth wave in 2017. The Catholic Faculty of Theology directs the EVS project for Croatia and has signed a cooperation agreement with the EVS headquarters in Tilburg.

2 European Values Study Memorandum sent by WORC–Tilburg University, November 1998. (L. H. 98. 648. jg), to prof. dr. sc. Tomislav Ivančić – dean of the Catholic Faculty of Theology, University of Zagreb. Memorandum received on 7 December 1998 and filed under reference number 13-10/21 at Catholic Faculty of Theology, University of Zagreb.

With respect to the Croatian research team, several meaningful features should be pointed out. The first feature pertains to the scientific interdisciplinarity, as scientists from both humanities and social sciences, i.e., theologians, sociologists, methodologists, psychologists and political scientists, have participated and successfully collaborated in the project from the beginning. Accordingly, the research team includes researchers from the University of Zagreb (Catholic Faculty of Theology, Faculty of Law, Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences and Faculty of Croatian Studies), the Catholic University of Croatia and Ivo Pilar Institute from Zagreb. The second distinct feature is manifested in the manner and place of publication of the results of the individual study waves. The results were published in the Croatian language both in the theological journal Bogoslovska smotra and partly in the journal for general social issues

Društvena istraživanja. After each wave of the EVS research, a thematic issue dedicated to the research was published in Bogoslovska smotra. It is also important to emphasize that Bogoslovska smotra, the scientific journal published by the Catholic Faculty of Theology, is the reference point for the Comparative Overview of Responses to Survey Questions in the European Values Study – 1999, 2008, 2017.3

Bogoslovska smotra published the first papers pertaining to the third wave of the EVS in Croatia under the title „European Values Study in Croatia - 1999. Partial Report“ (Bogoslovska smotra, 2000, no. 2). Next, Bogoslovska smotra published papers from the fourth EVS wave in Croatia under the title „European Values Study in Croatia – EVS – 2008. Data for the Republic of Croatia. Partial Report“ (Bogoslovska smotra, 2010, no. 2). After the fourth EVS wave, for the first time the EVS results in Croatia were interpreted and published in the journal Društvena istraživanja

3 For instance, for the third wave of EVS research in 1999, an Examination of Percentages and Arithmetic Averages (MEAN) was published in Bogoslovska smotra. Furthermore, for the fourth wave of research in 2008, a Comparative Overview of Responses to Survey Questions in the 1999 & 2008 EVS was published in Bogoslovska smotra and for the fifth wave, the journal published a Comparative Overview of Responses to Survey Questions in the European Values Study – 1999, 2008, 2017.

(Društvena istraživanja, 2010, no. 1-2). Bogoslovska smotra published papers related to the EVS for the third time after the fifth wave under the title „European Values Study in Croatia – EVS – 2017. Data for the Republic of Croatia. Partial Report“ (Bogoslovska smotra, 2019, no. 2). That same year, three papers with the interpretation of the fifth EVS wave were also published in the journal Društvena istraživanja (Društvena istraživanja, 2019, no. 3).

The third distinct feature of the Croatian research team is in the publication of books. The Croatian team of researchers has published four books over the course of thirty years of collaboration, and this will be the fifth book. All these books are marked by two characteristics. As a rule, the books were published after the EVS wave had been conducted in Croatia. The other significant characteristic is the difference between the papers published in journals (Bogoslovska smotra and Društvena istraživanja), and chapters in the published books. While the papers in Croatian journals analyse, interpret and comment primarily the EVS data for Croatia, the books analyse, comment and compare the same data with European EVS data, which is also evident from the titles of individual books. In addition, the authors of chapters in the books mutually agree on the topics they will deal with. Therefore, the monitoring of the values trajectory is not only analysed and commented on narrowly at the national level, but, above all, in the entire European context, of which Croatia is an integral and interesting part. Croatia is hence no longer just an isolated island on the European values map, it is also an integral part of the entire European context, with all its national peculiarities and traditions, because Croatia also lives in the continuity and changes of turbulent times (Atlas of European Values - 2022). Accordingly, after the third EVS wave, at the very beginning of the 21st century, a book was published in Croatian and in English with the same content (Baloban, J., prir., 2005; Baloban, J. ed., 2005). The intention was to introduce, primarily to the European reader, but the wider audience as well, with the current state of values in an independent and young European state, which has its centuries-old native traditions, but from 1945 to 1990 lived as part of the then communist Yugoslavia and has since become a part of the democratic Europe, but equally, or even more so, of Europe in transition. Whereas the first book was published under the compelling title „In Search of Identity“, the second book published after the fourth EVS wave in 2008 was titled „Values in Croatia and Europe“ (Baloban, J., Nikodem, K. and Zrinščak, S., eds., 2014). Croatian researchers, notwithstanding financial challenges, succeeded in conducting the fifth EVS wave in 2017. Following the fifth wave, the Croatian team published the book „Values in Croatia from 1999 to 2018“ (Baloban, J., Črpić, G. and Ježovita J., eds., 2019).4 Upon the publication, two actions were undertaken. The 102-page book was simultaneously gifted to all the Members of the Croatian Parliament and to all the Members of the Croatian Bishops’ Conference. Separately, on 13 February 2019, the book was presented before the Croatian Parliament at the 47th thematic session of Education, Science and Culture Committee and European Affairs Committee. The present members of the Croatian research team, in addition to the presence of the leadership of the Catholic Faculty of Theology, University of Zagreb, experienced a very constructive discussion with the Members of the Parliament at a session that lasted ninety minutes. After that, the book was briefly presented at the General Assembly of the EVS participating members in Ljubljana, 21-22 February 2019. Croatia was among the first EVS participating members to successfully publish the first national results of the fifth EVS wave shortly after the conclusion of the research wave.

We should emphasize that during the past twenty years, members of the Croatian research team have had their papers published in other sources (journals as well as books) in both Croatian and foreign languages. Ultimately, we refer the readers to this book with the title „Changes in the Value System in Democratic Croatia“.

Croatian EVS research team has been meticulously and consistently studying value trajectories for over twenty years - both the fundamental values and the emerging ones - which in their own manner represent an integral part of individual and collective lives of Europeans. At the same time, the researchers have been aware that the value-oriented thinking and reasoning, and subsequent actions of Europeans in the last forty years have been realized in their own specific manner across at least four realities marked by the fall of the Berlin Wall and the Iron Curtain, the efforts and struggles of individual European countries in transition, facing all possible events on the path to the democratization of society and efforts to join the European Union. Affected and permeated by all these events, Croatia, as a Central European and Mediterranean country, justifiably seeks its place in the family of European nations, and beyond, facing tradition and the new challenges of the postmodern era. Consequently, Croatian scholars, gathered in small teams, have attempted to select certain groups of values in this new book, which they personally hold to be the most interesting and intriguing currently, both for Croatia itself and its citizens, as well as for European citizens. Then, on the basis of the fifth EVS wave, they have analysed, interpreted and presented them to Croatian readers. Therefore, we have found it convenient, even instructive, to pique the reader’s interest in some, or even all the topics, and to briefly outline each chapter in the Foreword. We hope that in this way we provide the reader with a good insight into the subject matter of the book. The very title points to the fact that changes in the value system have also been taking place in Croatia.

4 Predicated on graphs and tables, the book focuses on several groups of values, starting from solidarity, justice and social sensitivity through trust in people, institutions and democracy and politics, to values such as marriage and family and religion, morality and ethics.

The first chapter by Krunoslav Nikodem and Siniša Zrinščak is titled “Secularization, individualization or polarization? Religious changes in European Catholic countries”. Based on the EVS data for 1999, 2008 and 2017, it contains an analysis of religious changes in nine European Catholic countries. In a theoretical sense, the chapter relies on revised and contextualized versions of the theory of secularization and the theory of individualization, whereas in terms of the specificity of individual countries, it hinges on theories about the relationship between religion, authoritarianism, national identity and political orientations. At the fundamental level, the results reveal a decrease in religiosity in the selected countries and over the observed period, that is, the presence of secularization. The results of further analysis point to the conclusion that this decline in religiosity is related to individualism as a personal choice, authoritarianism and right-wing political orientation, and is not related to modernization, utilitarian and expressive individualism and national identity.

The second chapter „Comparative analysis of ecclesiality in Croatia and Central Europe“ authored by Josip Baloban, Josip Ježovita and Branko Murić, analyses ecclesiality as a multidimensional reality, against the dimensions of Church affiliation, trust in the Church, the dimension of religious truths and in the ritual dimension. Croatia is compared with Central European countries. Across the dimensions of ecclesiality, Croatia comes out in all its distinctiveness and a kind of atypicality. In terms of nominal affiliation to the Church, Croatia is above average compared to European countries surveyed, including Central European countries. With respect to trust in the Church, Croatia is below the overall average of all European countries, and compared to Central European countries, it is somewhere in the middle. In relation to Christian truths, a third of Catholics in Croatia drift between faith in a personal God and an understanding of God as a spirit or life force. As regard the ritual dimension, Croatia is above the overall European average, and compared to Central European countries, it ranks among those with high attendance of religious ceremonies. Data pertaining to Croatia conclusively confirm that a shift of partial acceptance of the Catholic faith and Christianity by choice has been taking place for several decades. Simultaneously, gradual affiliation to the Church continues, with a visible distanced ecclesiality, which has been markedly prominent in the 20th century.

The third chapter „Selected bioethical issues in the countries of the Central European cultural circle according to the EVS 2017“, by Tonči Matulić and Ivan Balabanić explores the differences in the citizens’ views on the contemporary bioethical issues of abortion, insemination, suicide, euthanasia, death penalty and parenting of homosexual couples in the countries belonging to the Central European cultural circle: Austria, Croatia, Czech Republic, Germany, Hungary, Poland, Slovakia and Slovenia. The authors indicate that the citizens of those countries differ significantly in relation to religion and religious affiliation. Poland and Croatia can be considered strongly Catholic countries, and the Czech Republic a strongly atheist country with two-thirds of the population declaring themselves non-believers and undecided. The authors compare the opinions and attitudes of citizens, bringing to light the similarities and differences between them. On the basis of these analyses, the authors conclude that the countries of the Central European cultural circle can be at least conditionally classified into two groups based on the obtained research results. Poland and Croatia, followed by Slovakia with the highest percentage of undecideds, comprise the first group of countries where a significant influence of religious affiliation on value attitudes pertaining to the identified bioethical issues is still observed. The second group includes the Czech Republic, Germany, Slovenia and Austria, where a smaller influence of religious affiliation on such issues can be observed. However, although Slovenia and Austria are predominantly Catholic countries, they still record a relatively low to negligible influence of religious affiliation.

In the fourth chapter „Marriage and family in Croatia and Central Europe - in perpetual value temptation“, authors Josip Baloban, Josip Šimunović and Josip Ježovita study the attitudes of Croatian and (Central) European citizens towards marriage and family. In accordance with the data obtained, both values are still highly ranked and are considered important in the lives of Europeans, and the institutions have not outdated nor have not lost their overall significance. In terms of marriage, the following values are ranked high, i.e., values highly regarded: fidelity, children, good living conditions and adequate income. These values at the same time guarantee and support the development of a stable family. The existence and good functioning of these two institutions have been exposed to permanent tests for decades. In recent times, their traditional-classical form, both in Europe and in Croatia, has been increasingly challenged by the growing number of divorces and separations as well as cohabitation, single motherhood and alternative marital partnerships, which have been on the rise. In this way, topics and dilemmas present in other parts of Europe as well as the influences of secularization, (post) modernization, individualization and neoliberalism are reflected in Croatia. Hence, it can be concluded that the Republic of Croatia is increasingly influenced by the value changes taking place across Europe.

In the fifth chapter „Democracy and its controversies: authoritarianism, liberal attitudes and essential features of democracy“, Krunoslav Nikodem and Siniša Zrinščak present an analysis of key controversies and features of contemporary democracy based on the EVS data for 1999, 2008 and 2017. In doing so, they start from various theoretical approaches that engage with the weakening and crisis of democracy and the associated strengthening of populism, the rise of political authoritarianism on the one hand, and on the other hand, the expansion of liberal attitudes in the area of sexual morality. A total of twenty European countries were included in the analysis, divided into two groups - post-communist countries and developed democracies. The results of the analysis reflect a high level of normative acceptance of democracy and a low level of satisfaction with the development of democracy and the functioning of the political system, as well as an increase in dissatisfaction with the development of democracy in most (especially post-communist) countries analysed. Moreover, the results indicate that political authoritarianism in most post-communist countries has been growing stronger and that liberal attitudes in most developed democratic countries have been intensifying.

In the sixth chapter „Trust in political institutions: Croatia in a comparative perspective“ authors Gordan Črpić, Marijana Kompes and Lucija Mihaljević discuss the dimensions of political trust in a comparative analysis of Croatia and selected post-communist countries (Poland, Hungary and Slovenia) and the so-called established democracies (Italy, Spain, Austria, Germany, Sweden and Finland). In the first part of the chapter, political trust is treated as a multidimensional concept, starting from Oscar W. Gabriel’s systematization, which is adapted to the available empirical data. The issue of low trust in political institutions in the Croatian context is addressed through the approaches of Croatian authors Županov, Rogić and Mardešić. Starting from the theoretical concepts of the referenced authors, the dimensions of trust in state institutions (Parliament, government and state administration, political parties and judiciary), external institutions (EU and UN) and hierarchical institutions (army, police and Church) were analysed. Selected factors were elaborated on the same basis, analysed in the empirical part of the chapter, along the dimension of their association with political trust, within the framework of two lines of argumentation; cultural, in which religiosity, authoritarianism and political culture are investigated, and institutional, which includes satisfaction with the functioning of the political system. In a comparative perspective, the results clearly display a significant deficit of trust in the institutions of post-communist countries in comparison with the established democracies on a general level, however there is significantly greater trust in external, that is, international institutions such as the European Union and the United Nations. Considerable mistrust in state institutions was established, whereas greater trust in hierarchical ones was found to exist. The authors conclude that it is precisely the structural conditions which prevent citizens from feeling stable support in their political institutions or which cause them to feel betrayed, which can also be a key barrier to building a stable political culture of trust, that is, they represent space for its renewal.

The seventh chapter „Indicators of solidarity in Central European countries“ by Stjepan Baloban, Ivan Balabanić and Silvija Migles consists of two parts. The first part, which is titled „The issue of approaching and measuring solidarity“, illustrates an exceptionally relevant problem of measuring and interpreting the phenomenon of solidarity, resulting from specific perspectives and methodologies in different sciences. The au- thors advocate as desirable an interdisciplinary approach, which has been partly practiced in the past two decades in Croatia. The second and the central part titled „Research on solidarity in Central European countries“ presents and analyses the data obtained on the basis of the 2017 EVS survey in ten Central European countries. The main aim of the research was to examine the solidarity of citizens of Central European countries at the local, global and societal level. The results demonstrate that Central Europe is not a homogeneous area and that there are differences in relation to the level of solidarity among the citizens of Central Europe, as well as differences between individual countries. When we compare all levels of solidarity, we can conclude that, generally speaking, the citizens of Central Europe are most concerned about the living conditions of two groups of citizens – the sick and infirm and the elderly.

Chapter eight „Immigrants as a threat. Social distance and threat perception in the old and the new EU democracies“, starts from the theoretical concepts of social distance and threat perception, and authors Mateja Čehulić and Siniša Zrinščak investigate the attitudes towards immigrants in seventeen European countries, divided into two groups - old and new EU democracies - obtained in the period from 1999 to 2107. The analysis showed that the social distance towards immigrants has been on a significant rise in those countries designated as new democracies, mostly in the last decade. Social distance can mostly be explained by the perception of the real and symbolic threat that the population has towards immigrants, i.e. foreign workers. The views that immigrants take away jobs, increase crime rates and are a burden on the country’s social system are common in new democracies, although a significant proportion of the population in old democracies agrees with the two latter attitudes. With reference to the attitude of whether immigrants should retain their specific customs and traditions, a large share of undecided answers is recorded. The authors carry out a detailed analysis of the possible predictors of social distance and feelings of threat: sociodemographic variables, political orientations, national pride, religiosity and (post)materialistic value orientations.

Josip Ježovita contributed to the book with chapter nine „An analysis of the consistency and continuity of data obtained during the forty-year EVS research tradition“. The EVS represents a vital international project with a rich research tradition. By its nature, this project is an international longitudinal research in which 49 countries have participated in five re- search waves since the 1980s, and the survey method was used to collect data. In order stay relevant and in line with the methodological and technological developments that have been taking places in the research community, various new approaches to surveying have been implemented over the course of the project. The introduction of certain approaches changed in relation to the specifics of research waves, but also in relation to the possibilities of individual countries to conduct individual research. One of the major problems that can arise in such situations is the deteriorated quality of the obtained data or the loss of data continuity and comparability of survey approaches and temporal and spatial dimensions. The author investigated the matter and the results of the analysis support the conclusion that data continuity has been preserved within the framework of the EVS project.