1
00:00:00,634 --> 00:00:01,967
Hello everybody.

2
00:00:03,060 --> 00:00:04,999
I'm here tonight to share with you

3
00:00:05,000 --> 00:00:08,013
two of the most fundamental
insights of my research,

4
00:00:08,015 --> 00:00:11,824
of which I truly believe
many more people should know about.

5
00:00:11,825 --> 00:00:14,940
First, humanity as a whole

6
00:00:14,941 --> 00:00:18,282
has over the last couple
of decades experienced

7
00:00:18,283 --> 00:00:24,092
a massive and actually unprecedented
transformation of moral values.

8
00:00:24,093 --> 00:00:30,081
Second, and even more importantly,
this transformation is a good thing,

9
00:00:30,082 --> 00:00:35,420
because it brings to the surface
the better moral qualities of our species.

10
00:00:36,548 --> 00:00:39,934
Well, hearing that, you might think,

11
00:00:39,935 --> 00:00:42,575
"This person must live
in a different reality."

12
00:00:43,125 --> 00:00:46,667
Haven't I heard about Brexit, Trump,

13
00:00:46,675 --> 00:00:49,804
rising populism, right-wing extremism,

14
00:00:49,805 --> 00:00:52,565
global terrorism,
religious fundamentalism,

15
00:00:52,566 --> 00:00:57,476
and all the other indications
of our moral decline?

16
00:00:58,721 --> 00:01:04,921
Indeed, influential critics
tried to convince us since the ages

17
00:01:05,751 --> 00:01:10,431
that our undeniable technological progress

18
00:01:11,810 --> 00:01:15,420
is counteracted by a moral digression,

19
00:01:16,274 --> 00:01:19,083
which opens a growing discrepancy

20
00:01:19,084 --> 00:01:24,664
between our technological capacities
and our moral qualities.

21
00:01:26,606 --> 00:01:28,520
The problem of the critics, however,

22
00:01:28,521 --> 00:01:34,880
is they never proved their point
by systematic evidence through hard facts.

23
00:01:34,881 --> 00:01:38,350
What they usually do
is cherry-picking examples

24
00:01:38,351 --> 00:01:41,951
that fit their claims,
but leaving out others that don't.

25
00:01:43,248 --> 00:01:45,288
Let's try a different approach.

26
00:01:45,988 --> 00:01:50,717
Let's have a look
at a collection of systematic data

27
00:01:50,718 --> 00:01:54,282
of what people from all corners
around the world

28
00:01:54,283 --> 00:01:56,793
think is morally right or wrong.

29
00:01:57,402 --> 00:02:00,118
That data collection
exists for several decades,

30
00:02:00,119 --> 00:02:03,941
so what we can do, as well,
is look at change over time,

31
00:02:03,942 --> 00:02:08,342
if there is any, and then if,
in what direction is it going.

32
00:02:09,729 --> 00:02:13,900
The data collection I'm referring to
is knows as the World Values Survey.

33
00:02:14,511 --> 00:02:18,121
If you're interested in the details
and how this study is conducted,

34
00:02:18,122 --> 00:02:21,542
you can go at their website,
which is on display here.

35
00:02:22,378 --> 00:02:26,102
In blue colors, we see
the countries in the world

36
00:02:26,103 --> 00:02:29,870
that have been surveyed at least once
by the World Values Survey.

37
00:02:29,871 --> 00:02:32,013
This is more than 100 countries.

38
00:02:32,014 --> 00:02:33,650
But more importantly,

39
00:02:33,651 --> 00:02:37,449
we cover in each global region
the biggest national population.

40
00:02:37,450 --> 00:02:39,811
We have China, and Japan, in East Asia.

41
00:02:39,812 --> 00:02:42,289
We have India, Indonesia, in South Asia.

42
00:02:42,290 --> 00:02:45,538
We have Nigeria and South Africa,
in Sub-Saharan Africa.

43
00:02:45,539 --> 00:02:48,527
We have Egypt, Iran, Turkey
in the Middle East.

44
00:02:48,528 --> 00:02:50,969
We have the US
in North America, of course.

45
00:02:50,970 --> 00:02:55,829
We have Brazil and Argentina covered
in South America, and so on and so forth.

46
00:02:55,830 --> 00:02:58,755
So we can claim that our data represent

47
00:02:58,756 --> 00:03:01,772
more than 90% of the world population,

48
00:03:01,773 --> 00:03:03,743
which is significant.

49
00:03:06,586 --> 00:03:10,975
We find in this data
a whole host of moral differences

50
00:03:10,976 --> 00:03:14,174
between people and between entire nations.

51
00:03:15,766 --> 00:03:19,862
But, we sifted through this data
for many years, and it turns out

52
00:03:19,863 --> 00:03:24,043
that most of these differences
boil down to just two,

53
00:03:24,773 --> 00:03:29,083
just two key domains
of cultural variation.

54
00:03:30,072 --> 00:03:34,049
One of them you see
on the horizontal axis,

55
00:03:34,050 --> 00:03:39,210
where it spans a continuum
from sacred to secular values.

56
00:03:39,950 --> 00:03:44,141
Populations on the left end emphasize

57
00:03:46,371 --> 00:03:51,430
the sacred sources
of authority, especially religion,

58
00:03:51,431 --> 00:03:55,029
but also the nation,
the state, the family.

59
00:03:56,154 --> 00:04:00,437
Populations on the right
have a secular distance

60
00:04:00,438 --> 00:04:04,568
to these sources of authority,
especially, again, religion.

61
00:04:05,996 --> 00:04:08,673
The second dimension
is on the vertical axis,

62
00:04:08,674 --> 00:04:10,514
and it spans a polarity

63
00:04:10,514 --> 00:04:14,210
between patriarchal
and emancipative values.

64
00:04:14,711 --> 00:04:18,510
At the lower end, at the patriarchal end,

65
00:04:18,511 --> 00:04:23,470
populations emphasize
male superiority over women

66
00:04:23,471 --> 00:04:27,848
in the areas of education,
in the areas of access to jobs,

67
00:04:27,849 --> 00:04:30,116
and in the areas of political power.

68
00:04:30,117 --> 00:04:34,235
They also emphasize strict authority
of parents over their children

69
00:04:34,236 --> 00:04:38,956
and such things as strict discipline,
law and order, and related things.

70
00:04:39,892 --> 00:04:43,936
Populations at the upper end,
at the emancipative end,

71
00:04:43,937 --> 00:04:47,197
emphasize women's equality to men.

72
00:04:48,227 --> 00:04:53,926
Child autonomy, self-determination,
and democratic voice

73
00:04:53,927 --> 00:04:55,783
is part of what they emphasize.

74
00:04:56,898 --> 00:04:59,637
You see, there is
a lot of countries covered here,

75
00:04:59,638 --> 00:05:04,278
but another interesting point
is that these many nations cluster

76
00:05:05,125 --> 00:05:10,144
into a much smaller number
of what we call "culture zones,"

77
00:05:10,145 --> 00:05:13,330
which map on these
cultural differences, as well,

78
00:05:13,331 --> 00:05:14,841
as you have seen before.

79
00:05:16,702 --> 00:05:21,181
We colored blue
the Western cultural zones,

80
00:05:21,182 --> 00:05:25,656
and it's apparent that they differ
from the non-Western culture zones,

81
00:05:25,657 --> 00:05:31,346
especially on the dimension 
of patriarchal versus emancipative values,

82
00:05:31,347 --> 00:05:35,112
where the Western culture
is actually defined, in a sense,

83
00:05:35,113 --> 00:05:40,132
by an emphasis on emancipation much more
than other cultural zones in the world,

84
00:05:40,133 --> 00:05:43,670
and even the Protestant West
sticks even more out here,

85
00:05:43,671 --> 00:05:46,412
and the biggest cultural distance 
that we find

86
00:05:46,413 --> 00:05:50,233
is between the Protestant West
and the Islamic world,

87
00:05:50,234 --> 00:05:52,914
with many people in the Islamic world

88
00:05:52,914 --> 00:05:57,317
emphasizing sacred values
and patriarchal values,

89
00:05:57,318 --> 00:05:59,867
and most of the people
in the Protestant West

90
00:05:59,868 --> 00:06:04,628
emphasizing secular values,
and especially emancipative values.

91
00:06:08,515 --> 00:06:14,444
Scholars usually consider
such cultural distances, or differences,

92
00:06:14,445 --> 00:06:20,648
as a constant, as enduring traits
of national mentalities.

93
00:06:22,236 --> 00:06:28,355
This overlooks, however, how much dynamics
there was over recent decades

94
00:06:28,356 --> 00:06:30,909
in these moral values.

95
00:06:31,806 --> 00:06:37,075
Surprisingly, all cultural zones
of the world have uniformly moved

96
00:06:37,076 --> 00:06:38,501
in the same direction.

97
00:06:40,183 --> 00:06:43,260
Even the Islamic world,
even in Sub-Saharan Africa,

98
00:06:43,261 --> 00:06:46,914
we see a movement towards more secular,

99
00:06:46,915 --> 00:06:50,615
and especially towards
more emancipative values.

100
00:06:52,794 --> 00:06:58,063
On the other hand, it is also clear
that the Western cultures

101
00:06:58,064 --> 00:07:03,273
made a much farther space
in that direction,

102
00:07:03,274 --> 00:07:05,113
so their move is even more pronounced,

103
00:07:05,114 --> 00:07:10,683
which means that the emancipatory outlook
of Western culture is nowadays

104
00:07:10,684 --> 00:07:15,410
even more pronounced
than it already has been decades ago.

105
00:07:16,523 --> 00:07:21,293
So, the fact that all cultural zones
are moving in the same direction

106
00:07:21,303 --> 00:07:24,163
does not lead to convergence.

107
00:07:25,249 --> 00:07:28,719
Cultural differences
have actually become bigger,

108
00:07:30,833 --> 00:07:32,703
which is an issue of conflict.

109
00:07:34,869 --> 00:07:38,908
Looking at the forces
that might be driving this change

110
00:07:38,909 --> 00:07:42,219
towards emancipative values,
we get a hint here.

111
00:07:43,328 --> 00:07:45,933
We see knowledge economies,
which are those countries

112
00:07:45,934 --> 00:07:49,554
that obtain their wealth
from high-end products and services.

113
00:07:50,494 --> 00:07:53,343
We have industrial economies,
which are those countries

114
00:07:53,344 --> 00:07:58,074
that obtain their wealth
from cheap workbench production.

115
00:07:59,567 --> 00:08:03,486
So, those ones into 
which we outsource our labor a lot.

116
00:08:03,487 --> 00:08:05,772
And we have agrarian/oil economies,

117
00:08:05,773 --> 00:08:08,833
obtaining their wealth
from natural products and raw materials.

118
00:08:12,247 --> 00:08:18,276
A criterion distinguishing these economies
is what I call the enlightenment forces,

119
00:08:18,277 --> 00:08:22,969
which is: education,
knowledge, and science.

120
00:08:23,847 --> 00:08:26,719
These enlightenment forces
are the most pronounced,

121
00:08:26,720 --> 00:08:31,259
most powerful, in the knowledge economies,
more so than in the industrial economies,

122
00:08:31,260 --> 00:08:36,433
which, in turn, have them more powerful
than agrarian and oil economies.

123
00:08:38,261 --> 00:08:43,961
And here we can see that it is worthwhile
to send our children into school

124
00:08:43,962 --> 00:08:47,965
and to universities and to college,
and let them enjoy education.

125
00:08:47,966 --> 00:08:50,218
It is a transformative force.

126
00:08:50,987 --> 00:08:52,823
In all three types of economies,

127
00:08:52,824 --> 00:08:56,094
we see that people
who have obtained more education

128
00:08:56,855 --> 00:09:01,014
emphasize emancipative values
more strongly.

129
00:09:01,015 --> 00:09:04,063
Again, this is more pronounced
in knowledge economies,

130
00:09:04,064 --> 00:09:06,944
where the enlightenment forces
are most powerful.

131
00:09:10,213 --> 00:09:12,572
If you ask yourself the question:

132
00:09:12,573 --> 00:09:15,882
is that move towards
stronger emancipative values,

133
00:09:15,883 --> 00:09:18,853
is this something good, is this positive?

134
00:09:20,553 --> 00:09:24,343
From the viewpoint
of democracy, it certainly is.

135
00:09:25,803 --> 00:09:30,133
Because here we can see
that over the decades, from 1950 to 2010,

136
00:09:31,580 --> 00:09:34,581
culture zones have made a shift

137
00:09:34,582 --> 00:09:38,625
from more autocratic
to more democratic circumstances,

138
00:09:38,626 --> 00:09:42,006
to about the extent
to which their populations

139
00:09:42,007 --> 00:09:45,707
have shifted from patriarchal
to emancipative values.

140
00:09:46,830 --> 00:09:50,124
You can actually see
that oftentimes, a move to the right -

141
00:09:50,125 --> 00:09:52,346
that means, towards
more emancipative values -

142
00:09:52,347 --> 00:09:55,342
precedes a move upward,

143
00:09:55,343 --> 00:09:59,507
which suggests
that the value change is causal

144
00:09:59,508 --> 00:10:02,798
for the subsequent change in institutions,

145
00:10:03,517 --> 00:10:05,027
and not the other way around.

146
00:10:07,487 --> 00:10:11,464
An even more fundamental reason
why we can consider

147
00:10:11,465 --> 00:10:15,794
the rise of emancipative values
as a force of enlightenment,

148
00:10:15,795 --> 00:10:18,728
is these values tendency

149
00:10:18,729 --> 00:10:22,699
to produce what I call
"moral universalism."

150
00:10:23,838 --> 00:10:28,758
That is, the widening
of our circles of solidarity

151
00:10:30,091 --> 00:10:35,651
to an extent to an outer rim
planet in humanity,

152
00:10:37,000 --> 00:10:41,964
where the concerns about these things
defy group divisions,

153
00:10:41,965 --> 00:10:44,445
because everyone is included.

154
00:10:46,746 --> 00:10:49,446
Patriarchal values, by contrast,

155
00:10:53,281 --> 00:10:58,663
favor the opposite moral tendency
towards moral parochialism.

156
00:10:58,664 --> 00:10:59,601
What is that?

157
00:10:59,602 --> 00:11:03,371
That means the narrowing down
of the solidarity circle.

158
00:11:03,372 --> 00:11:06,234
"My nation first", "America first" -

159
00:11:06,235 --> 00:11:10,475
these are the slogans that depict
that moral tendency.

160
00:11:15,261 --> 00:11:19,365
Here we can see the shift from 
patriarchal to emancipative values

161
00:11:19,366 --> 00:11:23,558
is indeed related to a shift
from moral parochialism

162
00:11:23,559 --> 00:11:25,357
to moral universalism,

163
00:11:25,358 --> 00:11:29,212
through the expansion
of our circles of solidarity,

164
00:11:29,213 --> 00:11:31,603
of our empathy for others.

165
00:11:32,072 --> 00:11:35,016
This is measured here, for example,

166
00:11:35,017 --> 00:11:37,574
by environmental concern
about global change

167
00:11:37,575 --> 00:11:40,774
and by fighting poverty in the world.

168
00:11:40,775 --> 00:11:44,240
So, the concern for the planet
and for humanity is covered here.

169
00:11:47,617 --> 00:11:49,567
But there are also problems.

170
00:11:51,429 --> 00:11:56,888
The rise of emancipative values
has also created cultural conflict

171
00:11:56,889 --> 00:12:01,162
over moral universalism
versus parochialism.

172
00:12:02,863 --> 00:12:06,903
This applies to a particular segment
of Western electorates.

173
00:12:08,000 --> 00:12:09,801
There is a segment of the population

174
00:12:09,802 --> 00:12:13,402
that has been left behind
by the emancipatory mainstream,

175
00:12:14,268 --> 00:12:16,538
that does not get a lot of education,

176
00:12:17,554 --> 00:12:22,603
and accordingly is working
in low-skilled manual jobs

177
00:12:22,604 --> 00:12:26,181
that are threatened
to be outsourced to other countries.

178
00:12:27,781 --> 00:12:30,051
The working class, to simplify it.

179
00:12:31,272 --> 00:12:34,386
This working class
in the economic conflict

180
00:12:34,387 --> 00:12:37,417
between social security
and market competition,

181
00:12:37,418 --> 00:12:39,138
it's located on the left.

182
00:12:39,989 --> 00:12:45,148
Also, ideologically on the left,
they are in favor of social security,

183
00:12:45,149 --> 00:12:49,299
and this is where usually leftist parties,
social democratic parties,

184
00:12:49,300 --> 00:12:53,090
the Democratic Party in the US
contacts, picks these voters up.

185
00:12:55,951 --> 00:13:00,450
However, on the moral conflict
between universalism and parochialism,

186
00:13:00,451 --> 00:13:02,263
they're on the parochial end.

187
00:13:03,195 --> 00:13:06,594
This is a moral conflict;
this is not an economic conflict.

188
00:13:06,595 --> 00:13:10,600
These people want to narrow
the circle of solidarity.

189
00:13:10,601 --> 00:13:14,410
Again, "My nation first,"
"Make America great again."

190
00:13:14,411 --> 00:13:17,376
And let no immigrants
in anymore, build a wall.

191
00:13:18,000 --> 00:13:22,030
This is parochialism, and these people
are located there for reasons.

192
00:13:23,298 --> 00:13:27,166
This is where now
the rising forces of populism,

193
00:13:27,167 --> 00:13:31,793
Vlaams Blok and Front national in France,

194
00:13:31,822 --> 00:13:34,498
the Liberal Party in Austria, where they,

195
00:13:34,499 --> 00:13:39,069
including Trump in the United States,
pick these people up as their voters.

196
00:13:41,299 --> 00:13:46,408
The other area
of emerging cultural conflict

197
00:13:46,409 --> 00:13:50,654
over issues of emancipation
is immigration.

198
00:13:51,828 --> 00:13:56,857
Especially immigration
from non-Western populations

199
00:13:56,858 --> 00:13:58,664
into Western countries.

200
00:14:00,237 --> 00:14:04,706
I exemplify this here
at the case of Germany,

201
00:14:04,707 --> 00:14:10,384
which is a very typical
post-industrial Western society.

202
00:14:12,372 --> 00:14:16,265
The left bar shows
that the native, host population

203
00:14:16,266 --> 00:14:18,957
born in Germany, German citizens,

204
00:14:18,958 --> 00:14:21,733
they score very high
on emancipative values.

205
00:14:21,734 --> 00:14:25,737
Sixty-two percent of this population

206
00:14:25,738 --> 00:14:29,278
emphasizes this type of values strongly.

207
00:14:30,688 --> 00:14:34,578
First-generation immigrants,
which is the lower bar on the right side,

208
00:14:35,147 --> 00:14:37,407
are very, very different.

209
00:14:37,925 --> 00:14:43,865
They emphasize these values
not even to 20% of this group,

210
00:14:43,867 --> 00:14:47,007
and these are immigrants
from non-Western cultures.

211
00:14:47,818 --> 00:14:53,537
Of course, it creates
a cultural gap over these issues,

212
00:14:53,538 --> 00:14:57,000
and these are important lifestyle issues.

213
00:14:57,001 --> 00:14:59,335
Gender equality,
tolerance of homosexuality,

214
00:14:59,336 --> 00:15:01,316
all these issues are related to that.

215
00:15:03,651 --> 00:15:08,310
Given the centrality
that emancipative values have

216
00:15:08,311 --> 00:15:10,226
for a healthy democracy,

217
00:15:10,227 --> 00:15:11,507
this is not trivial.

218
00:15:12,651 --> 00:15:18,421
This is a challenge, and we need
to face it in order to tackle it.

219
00:15:21,257 --> 00:15:25,140
The good news, however,
is we can master the challenge,

220
00:15:25,141 --> 00:15:27,397
because it's also obvious from the data

221
00:15:27,398 --> 00:15:29,621
- and these are the three bars
in the middle -

222
00:15:29,621 --> 00:15:34,911
that second-generation immigrants
already are very close

223
00:15:34,912 --> 00:15:38,841
in their emphasis on emancipative values
where the host population is.

224
00:15:38,842 --> 00:15:41,952
So obviously, socialization
in this country does work.

225
00:15:44,289 --> 00:15:46,626
Which relates us to the point:

226
00:15:46,627 --> 00:15:49,147
can we strengthen

227
00:15:49,907 --> 00:15:55,327
the effectiveness and the pace
of that socialization process?

228
00:15:56,910 --> 00:15:58,010
Can we do that?

229
00:15:59,478 --> 00:16:05,288
And this relates me to my final point,
which is actually a call for action.

230
00:16:06,300 --> 00:16:08,551
I believe what we need to do

231
00:16:08,552 --> 00:16:13,992
is to thoroughly rethink
our civic education programs

232
00:16:15,297 --> 00:16:18,997
and to target them particularly
to the immigrant population.

233
00:16:19,717 --> 00:16:23,359
Most importantly, what we also need
to do while doing this,

234
00:16:23,360 --> 00:16:29,589
is to place the psychology
of emancipative values center stage

235
00:16:29,590 --> 00:16:32,532
in the curriculum of these programs.

236
00:16:33,904 --> 00:16:35,374
(Applause)