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Shifts in emancipative values during times of crises: Longitudinal evidence from the COVID-19 pandemic in Russia
Alongside collectivism–individualism, autonomy–embeddedness, and monumentalism–flexibility, emancipative values (EV) constitute one of the most powerful cultural markers of societal differences in economic development, demographic change, and levels of liberal democracy. However, the evolutionary emancipation theory's validity relies on the assumption that values crystallize in early adolescence and persist across the lifespan—a premise lacking robust empirical scrutiny. Given EV's significance, this study examines their dynamics in Russia during the COVID-19 pandemic, using three waves (June 2020–December 2021) of the international longitudinal survey ‘Values in Crisis’. Aggregate-level analysis supports the ‘baseline stability theorem’, revealing no substantial decline in EV. However, divergent trends emerge for EV components: choice values undergo a marginal increase, while equality values show a slight decline. At the individual level, pandemic-related experiences, that is, COVID-19 infection, job loss, or health anxiety, exhibit no significant effect on choice values; however, equality values demonstrate a weak positive association with the increase in economic concerns. Latent growth mixture modelling further indicates that considerable EV shifts occurred in only ~2% of the panel sample. These findings provide novel evidence that core values remain stable even amid unprecedented exogenous shocks, reinforcing the ‘baseline stability theorem’ despite severe threats to health and economic security.