Christian Welzel Do Moral Capacities Change With Improving Living Conditions?
Christian Welzel is Chair of Political Culture Research at the Centre for the Study of Democracy, Leuphana University of Lüneburg. Furthermore, he is Vice-President of the World Values Survey Association, Stockholm, and Foreign Director of the National Research University - Higher School of Economics, Moscow. His research interests include value formation, cultural change, and public opinion as well as social change and human empowerment. For his scientific work, he has received several awards, including the Alexander L. George Award for Freedom Rising (2013). He is also elected Member of the German National Academy of Sciences Leopoldina and Fellow of the Center for the Study of Democracy, University of California, Irvine.
Area of Research
Political Science
since 2010
Chair in Political Culture Research
Leuphana University, Lüneburg
Center for the Study of Democracy
since 2010
Consultant and Foreign Director
National Research University - Higher School of Economics, Russia
since 2010
Adjunct Professor
Jacobs University Bremen
2006-2010
Full Professor of Political Science
Jacobs University Bremen
2009
Humboldt Fellow
University of California, Irvine
Center for the Study of Democracy
2009
POSCO Fellow
University of Hawaii
East West Center
2007
Visiting Professor
University of California, Irvine
Center for the Study of Democracy
2006
Visiting Professor
University of California, Irvine
Center for the Study of Democracy
2002-2005
Associate Professor of Political Science
Jacobs University Bremen
2001
Visiting Professor
University of Potsdam (Universität Potsdam)
1997-2000
Senior Research Fellow
Berlin Social Science Centre (WZB)
1993-1996
Research Fellow and Lecturer
University of Potsdam (Universität Potsdam)
1992
Research Fellow and Lecturer
Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz (Johannes Gutenberg-Universität Mainz)
2000
Habilitation in Political Science
Free University of Berlin (Freie Universität Berlin)
1996
PhD in Political Science
University of Potsdam (Universität Potsdam)
1991
Magister Artium in Political Science and Economic History
Universität des Saarlandes
- World Values Survey Association, Sweden (President emer. and Vice-President)
- German Academy of Sciences Leopoldina
Prizes
- Stein Rokkan Prize (2014)
- Alexander L. George Award (2014)
- Leuphana Research Prize (2014)
- Alexander von Humboldt Foundation Research Award (2007)
We can see progress all over the world, such as technological transformations, or rising life expectancies and literacy rates. Are these improvements in material conditions accompanied by a change in moral standards? So far, such questions have mainly been discussed in the area of philosophy. CHRISTIAN WELZEL is interested in finding empirical evidence that allows tangible conclusions on this matter. As he explains in this video, his research team uses public opinion surveys, in particular, the World Values Survey, which questions people all over the world about their convictions and beliefs. They, then, compare these data with objective data about people’s living conditions. Their findings suggest an overarching organizing scheme that locates people’s mindsets between two poles: submissive instincts and emancipatory drives. They also found that mentalities in societies change over time depending on exterior conditions.
LT Video Publication DOI: https://doi.org/10.21036/LTPUB10537
Freedom Rising
- Christian Welzel
- Published in 2013
