Companion 1.3a

Basic values and left-right

People who rate universalism higher place themselves further left in all 18 Western European countries in the ESS from 2002 to 2024, with a mean correlation of −0.19.

A companion to Chapter 1.3, Left and right across countries

Author: Vishal Singh
Affiliation: NYU Stern
Published: 30 September 2026

DraftFigures and numbers may change as the analysis is rebuilt.what is still being checked

Still open: party-position data to test the account of left-wing government incentives in post-communist Europe, a test of whether the value scale means the same in every country, and a check of WVS wave 7.

Among European Social Survey (ESS) respondents in Poland, people who rate conformity, tradition and security above their other values place themselves further right on the left-right scale than other Poles. Among respondents in Czechia, in the same survey rounds from 2002 to 2024, people who rank the same values highest place themselves further left than other Czechs. The correlation between these conservation values and left-right placement is +0.12 in Poland and −0.22 in Czechia, and in each country the 95% interval excludes zero. Polish and Czech respondents attach the same values to opposite sides of the scale.

Universalism leans left in every Western European country

The ESS measures Shalom Schwartz's ten basic values with short portraits of a person, such as someone for whom thinking up new ideas and being creative is important [1]. Respondents rate each portrait from very much like me to not like me at all. Each value score is centred on the respondent's own mean rating of all the portraits. The score is therefore a priority relative to the person's other values, and not a rating of the value on its own [2]. The theory arranges the ten values in a circle in which neighbours are compatible and opposites conflict. Applied to politics, it predicts that conformity, tradition and security (conservation) and power and achievement (self-enhancement) go with the right. Universalism and benevolence (self-transcendence) and self-direction and stimulation (openness to change) are predicted to go with the left. Hedonism has no predicted side.

In the 18 countries of Western, Northern and Southern Europe, every value with a predicted side has a mean correlation on that side, and the pattern is clearest for universalism. People who rate universalism higher than their other values place themselves further left in every one of these countries, and in every one the 95% interval of the correlation lies below zero. The mean across the countries is −0.19. Conformity leans furthest right, at +0.11, and tradition, power and security also lean right, each by less. Benevolence, self-direction and stimulation lean left by less than universalism. Achievement follows the theory least clearly, with a mean interval that barely clears zero, and hedonism, to which the theory assigns no side, leans left. The correlations are small. Figure 1 lays the ten means around the circle.

Figure 1

Across Western Europe universalism leans left and conformity, tradition and power lean right

Mean across countries of the correlation between each value's importance and left-right self-placement (0 = left, 10 = right), Western Europe, with 95% intervals from resampling countries

Above zero, outside the ring
Below zero, inside the ring
Bar length: Mean correlation with left-right

Show data

Data for Across Western Europe universalism leans left and conformity, tradition and power lean right
Value	Mean correlation	Interval low	Interval high	Countries in the mean	Predicted side	Countries on the predicted side	Countries with the interval on the predicted side
Conformity	+0.11	+0.09	+0.13	18	Predicted to lean right	18	18
Tradition	+0.10	+0.08	+0.12	18	Predicted to lean right	18	17
Security	+0.07	+0.04	+0.10	18	Predicted to lean right	17	14
Power	+0.09	+0.07	+0.11	18	Predicted to lean right	18	17
Achievement	+0.01	0.00	+0.02	18	Predicted to lean right	12	8
Hedonism	−0.02	−0.04	−0.01	18	No predicted side	n/a	n/a
Stimulation	−0.05	−0.06	−0.03	18	Predicted to lean left	16	13
Self-direction	−0.05	−0.07	−0.03	18	Predicted to lean left	16	14
Universalism	−0.19	−0.22	−0.16	18	Predicted to lean left	18	18
Benevolence	−0.07	−0.08	−0.06	18	Predicted to lean left	18	17

The universalism bar is the longest and points inward from the zero ring, toward the left, while the conformity, tradition, power and security bars point outward, toward the right. Each bar is the mean across the Western European countries of the correlation between a value's relative importance and left-right placement, and each whisker is a 95% interval from resampling countries. The achievement bar is short, and hedonism has no predicted side. Values in Table 1.

Note: Each score is centred on the respondent's own mean rating of all 21 items, so the ten correlations cannot all lie on one side of zero.Note: Hedonism has no predicted side and is left out of the counts of countries on the predicted side.Note: Country cells need an effective sample of 300 respondents or more.Source: European Social Survey, rounds 1 to 11, 2002-2024; weighted (analysis weight within each country, every country counted once across countries); Western Europe only

How the values are scored

The estimates come from ESS respondents in rounds from 2002 to 2024 who placed themselves on the left-right scale and answered the value portraits. That is about 430,000 people in countries across Europe, with each country's rounds pooled. Inside a country, the loading of a value is the weighted correlation between its centred score and the placement, and a positive loading means that people who rate the value higher place themselves further right. Averages across countries count each country once, and their intervals come from resampling countries.The interval of a country loading treats the weighted sample as a simple random sample and ignores clustering in the sampling design. Germany is one country and includes the former East Germany. The qualification that matters most is the centring. Because each score is relative to the person's other values, the ten loadings cannot all lie on one side of zero, and a value that leans left partly reflects other values that lean right. The report gives every estimate with its interval and sample size.

Conservation leans right in Poland and left in Czechia

The same estimator gives no single answer in the 18 post-communist countries. Combined into one conservation score, conformity, tradition and security lean right in Croatia, Slovenia and Poland, as they do in Western Europe. They lean left in Bulgaria, Czechia and Slovakia, where people who give these values more weight place themselves further left than other people in the same country. Counted by the 95% interval, conservation is on the predicted side in 4 post-communist countries and on the opposite side in 7, and the interval includes zero in the rest. The post-communist mean is −0.02 (95% CI −0.07 to 0.03), which by itself reads as no link. That mean averages countries with opposite signs. The standard deviation of the country loadings is 0.11 in post-communist Europe against 0.06 in Western Europe, so a single figure for the region hides the spread that the countries show.

Figure 2

By the 95% interval, conservation values go with the right in 4 post-communist countries and with the left in 7

Correlation between conservation values (conformity, tradition and security) and left-right self-placement, by post-communist country, with the Western and post-communist means; 95% intervals; ESS rounds 1 to 11, 2002-2024

Western mean
Post-communist mean
Interval above zero (leans right)
Interval includes zero
Interval below zero (leans left)

Correlation of conservation values with left-right (negative: rated higher further left; positive: further right)

Show data

Data for By the 95% interval, conservation values go with the right in 4 post-communist countries and with the left in 7
conf_high	conf_low	estimate	group	label	metric	n_units
0.161	0.111	0.135	Western mean	Western mean	Conservation	18
0.027	−0.073	−0.020	Post-communist mean	Post-communist mean	Conservation	18
0.184	0.131	0.158	Interval above zero (leans right)	Croatia	Conservation	n/a
0.154	0.117	0.136	Interval above zero (leans right)	Slovenia	Conservation	n/a
0.136	0.102	0.119	Interval above zero (leans right)	Poland	Conservation	n/a
0.187	0.004	0.096	Interval above zero (leans right)	Kosovo	Conservation	n/a
0.084	−0.013	0.036	Interval includes zero	Montenegro	Conservation	n/a
0.060	−0.038	0.011	Interval includes zero	Serbia	Conservation	n/a
0.034	−0.019	0.008	Interval includes zero	Lithuania	Conservation	n/a
0.086	−0.082	0.002	Interval includes zero	Albania	Conservation	n/a
0.007	−0.030	−0.011	Interval includes zero	Hungary	Conservation	n/a
0.079	−0.115	−0.019	Interval includes zero	North Macedonia	Conservation	n/a
0.005	−0.079	−0.037	Interval includes zero	Latvia	Conservation	n/a
−0.015	−0.072	−0.043	Interval below zero (leans left)	Russia	Conservation	n/a
−0.029	−0.089	−0.059	Interval below zero (leans left)	Ukraine	Conservation	n/a
−0.002	−0.118	−0.061	Interval below zero (leans left)	Romania	Conservation	n/a
−0.047	−0.080	−0.063	Interval below zero (leans left)	Estonia	Conservation	n/a
−0.153	−0.198	−0.176	Interval below zero (leans left)	Slovakia	Conservation	n/a
−0.201	−0.235	−0.218	Interval below zero (leans left)	Czechia	Conservation	n/a
−0.220	−0.262	−0.241	Interval below zero (leans left)	Bulgaria	Conservation	n/a
−0.162	−0.224	−0.193	Western mean	Western mean	Universalism	18
−0.024	−0.071	−0.049	Post-communist mean	Post-communist mean	Universalism	18
−0.133	−0.176	−0.155	Interval below zero (leans left)	Bulgaria	Universalism	n/a
−0.096	−0.131	−0.114	Interval below zero (leans left)	Czechia	Universalism	n/a
−0.079	−0.117	−0.098	Interval below zero (leans left)	Slovenia	Universalism	n/a
−0.055	−0.091	−0.073	Interval below zero (leans left)	Hungary	Universalism	n/a
−0.038	−0.094	−0.066	Interval below zero (leans left)	Russia	Universalism	n/a
−0.017	−0.115	−0.066	Interval below zero (leans left)	Serbia	Universalism	n/a
−0.035	−0.095	−0.065	Interval below zero (leans left)	Ukraine	Universalism	n/a
−0.037	−0.091	−0.064	Interval below zero (leans left)	Croatia	Universalism	n/a
−0.040	−0.086	−0.063	Interval below zero (leans left)	Slovakia	Universalism	n/a
0.002	−0.114	−0.056	Interval includes zero	Romania	Universalism	n/a
−0.010	−0.095	−0.053	Interval below zero (leans left)	Latvia	Universalism	n/a
−0.035	−0.068	−0.051	Interval below zero (leans left)	Estonia	Universalism	n/a
0.069	−0.125	−0.028	Interval includes zero	North Macedonia	Universalism	n/a
0.003	−0.051	−0.024	Interval includes zero	Lithuania	Universalism	n/a
−0.001	−0.035	−0.018	Interval below zero (leans left)	Poland	Universalism	n/a
0.105	−0.080	0.013	Interval includes zero	Kosovo	Universalism	n/a
0.092	−0.005	0.044	Interval includes zero	Montenegro	Universalism	n/a
0.142	−0.026	0.059	Interval includes zero	Albania	Universalism	n/a
0.094	0.074	0.084	Western mean	Western mean	Alignment	18
0.015	−0.016	0.000	Post-communist mean	Post-communist mean	Alignment	18
0.077	0.057	0.067	Interval above zero (predicted sides)	Croatia	Alignment	n/a
0.070	0.053	0.062	Interval above zero (predicted sides)	Slovenia	Alignment	n/a
0.053	0.040	0.047	Interval above zero (predicted sides)	Poland	Alignment	n/a
0.030	−0.010	0.010	Interval includes zero	Montenegro	Alignment	n/a
0.016	0.004	0.010	Interval above zero (predicted sides)	Hungary	Alignment	n/a
0.018	−0.004	0.007	Interval includes zero	Ukraine	Alignment	n/a
0.027	−0.016	0.006	Interval includes zero	Serbia	Alignment	n/a
0.016	−0.008	0.004	Interval includes zero	Lithuania	Alignment	n/a
0.040	−0.032	0.002	Interval includes zero	North Macedonia	Alignment	n/a
0.016	−0.018	−0.002	Interval includes zero	Latvia	Alignment	n/a
0.046	−0.042	−0.003	Interval includes zero	Kosovo	Alignment	n/a
0.007	−0.014	−0.004	Interval includes zero	Russia	Alignment	n/a
0.016	−0.034	−0.010	Interval includes zero	Romania	Alignment	n/a
0.016	−0.040	−0.011	Interval includes zero	Albania	Alignment	n/a
−0.019	−0.034	−0.026	Interval below zero (opposite sides)	Estonia	Alignment	n/a
−0.035	−0.052	−0.044	Interval below zero (opposite sides)	Slovakia	Alignment	n/a
−0.048	−0.062	−0.055	Interval below zero (opposite sides)	Czechia	Alignment	n/a
−0.054	−0.071	−0.062	Interval below zero (opposite sides)	Bulgaria	Alignment	n/a

Croatia, Slovenia and Poland sit to the right of zero beside the Western mean, and Bulgaria, Czechia and Slovakia sit well to the left of it. Most other countries lie near zero, and many of their intervals cross it. Each dot is one country's correlation between conservation values and left-right placement, with its 95% interval, coloured by where the interval falls. The universalism and alignment views repeat the plot for those measures. Values in Table 4.

Note: The two mean rows are means of country correlations with a 95% interval from resampling countries; country rows use the Fisher z interval on the effective sample size.Note: Country cells need an effective sample of 300 respondents or more.Source: European Social Survey, rounds 1 to 11, 2002-2024; weighted (analysis weight within each country, every country counted once across countries)

Universalism holds up better than conservation. Judged by the interval, a higher rating of universalism goes with a placement further right in 0 of the 18 post-communist countries, and the post-communist mean leans left as the Western mean does. An alignment score condenses the loadings into one number per country. It averages the loadings of the eight values that have a predicted side and are measured in both surveys, each multiplied by a sign. A positive score means the values sit on their predicted sides. The score has an interval above zero in every Western country. In post-communist Europe it is above zero in 4 (Croatia, Slovenia, Poland and Hungary), below zero in 4 (Bulgaria, Czechia, Slovakia and Estonia), and the rest include zero. A count by interval moves when a country's interval ends close to zero, as Hungary's does. Earlier work found the same division. In the first ESS round the values were only weakly associated with left-right placement in post-communist countries [3]. A later study of two rounds found that conservatism measured through values could go with the left or the right depending on the situation of a society [4].

Outside Europe the tie moves with human development

The World Values Survey (WVS) asked one short portrait per value in waves fielded from 2005 to 2016, in countries outside Europe as well as inside it. The same alignment score can be built there. Its interval is above zero in 30 of 71 countries and territories and below zero in 9, and the rest include zero. Values sit on their predicted sides in the United States and Japan and on the opposite sides in Malaysia and Egypt. Across the countries with an index value, the score correlates at +0.60 with the Human Development Index, a country score that combines life expectancy, schooling and income and uses no answer from the survey. This is a pattern across countries. It does not show that development changes how values relate to left-right. Countries with higher human development also differ in the age of their party systems, in education and in what the left-right label means, and the chapter does not separate these. Which attitudes the scale tracks in each country is the subject of Chapter 1.3, Left and right across countries.

Figure 3

Values sit on their predicted sides in 30 of 71 countries and on the opposite sides in 9

Average correlation between eight values and left-right self-placement, signed so that a positive score is the side the theory predicts; WVS waves 5 and 6, 2005-2016

95% interval of the alignment score

No data (170 countries)

Select a class to show only those places.

Find a country

Hover or tap a country for its value, or search by name. Zoom with the buttons on the map, then drag to move it.

Dots mark countries too small to fill at this scale.

Show data

Data for Values sit on their predicted sides in 30 of 71 countries and on the opposite sides in 9
Country	ISO code	Interval of the score	Alignment score	Interval low	Interval high	Respondents
Algeria	DZA	Includes zero	+0.032	−0.003	+0.069	496
Andorra	AND	Above zero	+0.103	+0.071	+0.133	906
Argentina	ARG	Above zero	+0.092	+0.070	+0.115	1,438
Armenia	ARM	Includes zero	−0.010	−0.041	+0.022	629
Australia	AUS	Above zero	+0.082	+0.063	+0.100	2,683
Azerbaijan	AZE	Includes zero	+0.009	−0.024	+0.040	1,001
Belarus	BLR	Includes zero	−0.019	−0.041	+0.003	1,454
Brazil	BRA	Above zero	+0.031	+0.016	+0.046	2,517
Bulgaria	BGR	Includes zero	−0.019	−0.051	+0.014	634
Burkina Faso	BFA	Above zero	+0.024	+0.002	+0.047	958
Canada	CAN	Above zero	+0.095	+0.066	+0.120	1,585
Chile	CHL	Above zero	+0.032	+0.011	+0.055	1,319
Colombia	COL	Above zero	+0.037	+0.017	+0.056	1,238
Cyprus	CYP	Includes zero	+0.017	−0.001	+0.035	1,846
Ecuador	ECU	Includes zero	+0.014	−0.006	+0.035	1,140
Egypt	EGY	Below zero	−0.041	−0.057	−0.025	4,209
Estonia	EST	Below zero	−0.026	−0.049	−0.002	1,230
Ethiopia	ETH	Includes zero	−0.020	−0.046	+0.004	1,249
Finland	FIN	Above zero	+0.043	+0.016	+0.072	887
France	FRA	Above zero	+0.052	+0.022	+0.078	905
Georgia	GEO	Below zero	−0.020	−0.040	−0.002	1,594
Germany	DEU	Above zero	+0.065	+0.044	+0.085	3,523
Ghana	GHA	Includes zero	−0.001	−0.018	+0.018	2,299
Haiti	HTI	Includes zero	−0.009	−0.026	+0.009	1,932
Hong Kong SAR	HKG	Includes zero	−0.009	−0.031	+0.015	964
Hungary	HUN	Includes zero	−0.006	−0.028	+0.017	856
India	IND	Includes zero	+0.011	−0.003	+0.022	3,515
Indonesia	IDN	Includes zero	+0.015	−0.007	+0.036	1,339
Iraq	IRQ	Includes zero	+0.010	−0.019	+0.037	936
Japan	JPN	Above zero	+0.066	+0.048	+0.084	2,237
Kazakhstan	KAZ	Includes zero	+0.004	−0.014	+0.023	1,500
Kyrgyzstan	KGZ	Includes zero	−0.010	−0.028	+0.008	1,435
Lebanon	LBN	Includes zero	−0.008	−0.037	+0.018	750
Libya	LBY	Includes zero	−0.001	−0.026	+0.021	1,319
Malaysia	MYS	Below zero	−0.050	−0.070	−0.031	1,300
Mali	MLI	Below zero	−0.029	−0.049	−0.010	977
Mexico	MEX	Above zero	+0.022	+0.010	+0.034	3,127
Moldova	MDA	Below zero	−0.045	−0.073	−0.018	786
Morocco	MAR	Includes zero	−0.002	−0.031	+0.027	685
Netherlands	NLD	Above zero	+0.109	+0.090	+0.126	2,470
New Zealand	NZL	Above zero	+0.110	+0.069	+0.150	583
Nigeria	NGA	Below zero	−0.031	−0.052	−0.010	1,759
Norway	NOR	Above zero	+0.079	+0.054	+0.106	991
Pakistan	PAK	Includes zero	−0.021	−0.053	+0.008	1,129
Palestine	PSE	Includes zero	+0.009	−0.017	+0.036	705
Peru	PER	Includes zero	+0.001	−0.014	+0.016	2,022
Philippines	PHL	Includes zero	0.000	−0.024	+0.022	1,186
Poland	POL	Above zero	+0.057	+0.037	+0.079	1,428
Romania	ROU	Below zero	−0.022	−0.039	−0.006	1,822
Russia	RUS	Includes zero	−0.009	−0.032	+0.014	903
Rwanda	RWA	Includes zero	+0.012	−0.001	+0.027	2,456
Serbia	SRB	Includes zero	−0.023	−0.050	+0.003	815
Slovenia	SVN	Above zero	+0.053	+0.031	+0.075	1,304
South Africa	ZAF	Includes zero	−0.013	−0.027	+0.001	5,449
South Korea	KOR	Above zero	+0.088	+0.065	+0.113	2,347
Spain	ESP	Above zero	+0.072	+0.052	+0.090	2,013
Sweden	SWE	Above zero	+0.083	+0.062	+0.104	2,053
Switzerland	CHE	Above zero	+0.109	+0.084	+0.136	1,083
Taiwan ROC	TWN	Above zero	+0.047	+0.030	+0.064	2,308
Thailand	THA	Includes zero	0.000	−0.014	+0.012	2,664
Trinidad and Tobago	TTO	Above zero	+0.027	+0.006	+0.048	1,177
Tunisia	TUN	Above zero	+0.052	+0.022	+0.079	667
Turkey	TUR	Above zero	+0.053	+0.037	+0.070	2,491
Ukraine	UKR	Includes zero	−0.016	−0.032	+0.002	2,026
United Kingdom	GBR	Above zero	+0.067	+0.038	+0.091	857
United States	USA	Above zero	+0.083	+0.065	+0.101	3,250
Uruguay	URY	Above zero	+0.048	+0.030	+0.068	1,663
Uzbekistan	UZB	Below zero	−0.033	−0.064	−0.002	566
Vietnam	VNM	Above zero	+0.053	+0.031	+0.077	1,277
Zambia	ZMB	Includes zero	−0.009	−0.033	+0.014	891
Zimbabwe	ZWE	Includes zero	−0.012	−0.037	+0.013	1,500

Teal covers the United States, Canada, Australia, Japan and most of Western Europe, where the interval of the score lies above zero. Brown marks Malaysia, Moldova, Egypt and Nigeria, where it lies below zero, and grey countries have an interval that includes zero. Each country's score averages the correlations of eight values with left-right placement, signed so that a positive score means the values sit on their predicted sides. Values in Table 6.

Note: Jordan and Yemen have an effective sample below 300 respondents and draw as no data. China, Iran, Kuwait, Qatar and Singapore have no left-right answers with the value items.Source: World Values Survey, waves 5 and 6, 2005-2016; weighted (S017 within each country, every country counted once across countries)

What these loadings cannot tell you

A loading is an association between two answers given in one interview. It does not show whether values shape left-right placement, whether placement shapes the values a person reports, or whether a party system, a church or a school shapes both. The scores are relative priorities, and the WVS measures each value with one item, which is noisier than the ESS scale, with universalism measured by an item on the environment alone. The country groups are historical labels, and the data hold no party positions or vote choices, so they cannot say why the tie is reversed in the post-communist countries whose interval is below zero. One account holds that left-wing parties in post-communist governments had stronger incentives than right-wing parties to hold spending down [5], and the chapter does not test it.

Go deeper

The report: every estimate with its interval and sample size.
Tables: every figure of the report as a table.
World values: the explorer for this part.

Reading paths that include this chapter:

Outside the United States

Data sources

European Social SurveyEuropean Social Survey rounds 1 to 11 (2002-2024): human values scale (Portrait Values Questionnaire) and left-right placement; round 11 value items rebuilt from the raw fileYears: 2002-2023 (rounds 1 to 11; round 11 was fielded in 2023 and 2024) · Weights: analysis weight (pspwght x pweight) within each country; every country counted once across countries · License: Open access after free registration in the ESS Data Portal; follow the ESS data citation requirements.
World Values Survey and EVSWorld Values Survey waves 5 and 6 (2005-2016): ten single-item value portraits and left-right placement; Human Development Index from the country context fileYears: 1981-2023 (7 unified waves) · Weights: weight (S017) within each country; every country counted once across countries · License: Free download with registration; users must cite the release.

All data sources

References

Schwartz, Shalom H. (1992). Universals in the Content and Structure of Values: Theoretical Advances and Empirical Tests in 20 Countries. Advances in Experimental Social Psychology 25: 1-65. doi:10.1016/S0065-2601(08)60281-6
Schwartz, Shalom H. (2003). A Proposal for Measuring Value Orientations across Nations. Chapter 7 in the Questionnaire Development Report of the European Social Survey. www.europeansocialsurvey.org/sites/default/files/2023-06/ESS_core_questionnaire_human_values.pdf
Piurko, Yuval; Schwartz, Shalom H.; Davidov, Eldad (2011). Basic Personal Values and the Meaning of Left-Right Political Orientations in 20 Countries. Political Psychology 32(4): 537-561. doi:10.1111/j.1467-9221.2011.00828.x
Aspelund, Anna; Lindeman, Marjaana; Verkasalo, Markku (2013). Political Conservatism and Left-Right Orientation in 28 Eastern and Western European Countries. Political Psychology 34(3): 409-417. doi:10.1111/pops.12000
Tavits, Margit; Letki, Natalia (2009). When Left Is Right: Party Ideology and Policy in Post-Communist Europe. American Political Science Review 103(4): 555-569. doi:10.1017/S0003055409990220

How to cite

@misc{singh2026basicvaluesandleftright,
  author = {Singh, Vishal},
  title = {Basic values and left-right},
  year = {2026},
  url = {https://vishalsingh.org/politics/basic-values-and-left-right},
  note = {In The Public Mind. Published 30 September 2026.}
}