Using World Values Survey and European Social Survey Data on Homosexuality and Homonegativity: The Comparative Evidence from the Social Sciences

Abstract

In this chapter we present some of the best known studies on the subject, based on data from the World Values Survey and the European Social Survey on Homosexuality and HomoNegativity. Because of their enormous importance in the literature of the social sciences, our presentation begins with the contribution of Ronald F. Inglehart, who stands out in the literature of world values research, and we highlight in this context his essay written in 2017 together with associates, which found that high levels of economic and physical security are conducive to a shift from material to post-material values, and this shift tends to make people more favourable to the importance of change, and the acceptance of gender equality, divorce, and homosexuality. The other studies reviewed, highlight cross national variations and public opinion about homosexuality, the impact of economic inequality across and within nations on attitudes towards homosexuality, the role of religion in explaining homophobic attitudes, the culture wars on homosexuality, religious particularism, religious salience and home negativity homonegativity; Post-materialism, the world society and multiple modernities, cohort socialisation and homonegativity, and finally the differential effects of religious beliefs and welfare regimes on homonegativity.