Comparative analysis of values of Russia and Europe in the context of the issues of existential safety

The article is devoted to the study of value orientations system in modern society in the context of globalization and intercultural communication in the open, informational world. The understanding of values and value dynamics is based on the possibilities of the existential-axiological approach, which in this case is used to study traditional and liberal (emancipative) values. The methodology of the study is represented by an existential approach to understanding values and by the method developed by R. Welzel C. Inglehart, for the study of modern sociocultural and political values. A comparative approach was implied to the study of the individual and social values of several European countries and Russia. The study has been done on the basis of a secondary analysis of the World Values Survey results. The sample included population of Russia and the European countries that participated in the WVS. The survey examined the population’s attitude to religion, family, work, political life, health, etc. Based on these data, features of manifestation of the European traditional, secular-rational and self-expression values are shown. The data in the European countries, gathered by the World Values Survey and the study of Happiness Index in 2016, were correlated. The author concludes that countries with a high Happiness Index show the high level of emancipative values. At the same time, it was revealed that some traditional values play an important role in the modern system of human values and are in a hybrid relationship with liberal landmarks. The values of self-expression turned out to be related to the existential security of a person in the conditions of crisis of a family as a social institution and weakening of social ties in postindustrial societies.