Is it a Matter of the Values’ Meanings? Assessing Potential Differences Between European Cultural Groups Regarding the Meaning of Democracy

Contrary to the clash of values thesis quantitative studies show high support for democracy throughout the world (Dalton et al. 2007: 142). One explanation might be that the respondents commit lip service to this pivotal political value (Diamond 2010: 103). The differences might instead be found regarding the meaning the respondents associate with democracy. Several authors have been investigating this (e.g. Canache 2012) focusing on non-western countries. In this paper, recent survey data (ESS 2012, WVS 2014) will be used to explore whether differences in the meaning of democracy can be found between European cultural groups (defined by nationality and by religion, language, and ethnic background). To visualise the cultural groups’ ‘spaces of meaning’ multidimensional scaling will be used. Evidence of differences would indicate clashes of cultural groups to be due to mutual misunderstanding rather than to principled dissent. This could shed some light on major European cultural conflicts