Social capital and symbolic capital. The study of social values.

Social sciences have differentiated themselves from philosophy in the nineteenth century through the preoccupation (manifest in particular in sociology) of explaining cultural modernization. Modernization of culture is an ongoing process, through its later modernization (also named, among other labels, as post-modernization), through the coexistence of a variety of cultures, including rather traditionalist ones and some postmoderning ones, all being linked by many subtle connections in a global world. As a way of imagining the world and life, the different combinations of traditionalism-modernity-postmodernity define patterns too imagine quality of life. In fact, since the mid-twentieth century, it is cultural modernization that brought the quality of life to the forefront of the discussion of social and human development.

Culture is defined through social values and social norms. Values are easier to be defined through their properties. They provide guidelines on how individuals position themselves towards virtually every aspect of life. They are internalized and manifest through attitudes and behaviors. Dominant attitudes and behaviors define social norms that can act at the level of a narrow community or society or the whole of society. Exposure to social norms leads to their internalization and transformation into individual values. Hence the social aspect of values. On its turn, modernization is about changing values: religious one, related to family life, to gender relations, to labor, to state organization, to acceptance of others, to defining identity, and so on.

Given the specificity of post-communist societies, an essential element of change and development is found in the cultures of participation, in other words in cultures of social capital. They occupy a privileged place within our research programs.

Finally, another key element is given by international migration, which offers a sui generisnatural experiment, in which individuals change suddenly the social norms to which they are exposed. We can thus see the extent to which they are passive subjects of exposure to norms and the extent to which they prove agency, influencing social norms.

Selected publications

Bogdan Voicu & Mălina Voicu. 2003. Volunteering in CEE: one of the missing links?, presented at the round-table Globalization, Integration, and Social Development in Central and Eastern Europe, University “Lucian Blaga” of Sibiu, 6-8 September 2003

Bogdan Voicu & Mălina Voicu. 2009. Continuities and Discontinuities in Social Values in Postcommunist Romania. Studia Sociologia, vol 1: 161-178

Bogdan Voicu & Mălina Voicu. 2009. Volunteers and volunteering in Central and Eastern Europe, Sociology. Slovak Journal of Sociology, nr. 6/2009, pp. 639-563

Bogdan Voicu & Mălina Voicu. 2011. How sociability and trust impact on welfare attitudes. A cross-european analysis, Revista de Cercetare şi Interventie Socială.33: 72 – 90. [JCR Impact factor (2011): 1.186]

Bogdan Voicu & Marian Vasile. 2014. Do “Cultures of Life Satisfaction” Travel? A Cross-European Study of Immigrants. Current Sociology,62(1): 81-99

Bogdan Voicu & Mircea Comşa. 2014. Immigrants’ Participation in Voting: Exposure, Resilience, and Transferability. Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies, doi:10.1080/1369183X.2013.873712.

Bogdan Voicu & Monica Şerban. 2012. Immigrant participation in voluntary associations across Europe, Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies 38(10): 1569-1587. [JCR impact factor (2012): 1.085].

Bogdan Voicu & Tanya Basina. 2005. Social capital and civic participation in Ukraine and România, pp. 75-96 in Horaţiu Rusu, Bogdan Voicu, eds. Perspectives on the European postcommunist societies, Sibiu: Psihomedia.

Bogdan Voicu, Claudiu D. Tufiș. 2015. Migrating trust. Contextual determinants of international migrants’ confidence in political institutions, European Political Science Review. Available on CJO 2015 doi:10.1017/S1755773915000417.

Bogdan Voicu, Mălina Voicu, coordonatori, 2007. Valori ale românilor: 1993-2006. O perspectivă sociologică [Romanian values: 1993-2006. A sociological perspective],Iaşi: Editura Institutul European. ENGLISH VERSION: 2008.

Bogdan Voicu, Mălina Voicu, Katarina Strapcova. 2007. Gendered Housework. A Cross-European Analysis, Sociologia – Slovak Sociological Review. Vol. 39, no. 6 (2007), p. 502-521.1.

Bogdan Voicu. 1999. Modernitatea între tradiţie şi postmodernism [Modernity between tradition and postmodernism]. Revista de Cercetări Sociale, nr. 3-4/1999

Bogdan Voicu. 2001.România pseudo-modernă [Pseudo-modern Romania].Sociologie Românească,nr. 1-4/2001, p. 36-59. [Romanian version] [English version]

Bogdan Voicu. 2005. Penuria Pseudo-Modernă a Postcomunismului Românesc. Volumul II. Resursele[The Post-Modern Penury of the Romanian Postcommunism. Volume II. The Resources], Iaşi: Expert Projects. http://www.asistentasociala.ro/librarydetail.php?book=819(available online: here)

Bogdan Voicu. 2005. Penuria Pseudo-Modernă a Postcomunismului Românesc. Volumul I. Schimbarea socială şi acţiunile indivizilor[Romanian values: 1993-2007. A sociological approach], Iaşi: Expert Projects. http://www.asistentasociala.ro/librarydetail.php?book=818  (availableonline:here)

Bogdan Voicu. 2005. Social capital: bonding or bridging Europe?, in Horaţiu Rusu, Bogdan Voicu eds. 2005. EU Integration Process from EAST to EAST: Civil Society and Ethnic Minorities in a Changing World, Sibiu: Psihomedia: 77-98.

Bogdan Voicu. 2006. Participare, spirit comunitar, capital social[Participation, community esprit, social capital], pp. 41-56 in Mălina Voicu, Bogdan Voicu, eds. 2006.Satul românesc pe drumul către Europa[Romanian village on its way to Europe], Iaşi: Polirom.

Bogdan Voicu. 2008. Social values, working time and the future of society, pp. 141-158 în Otto Neumaier, Gottfried Schweiger, Clemens Sedmak, eds., Perspectives on Work : Problems, Insights, Challenges, Munster, Hamburg, London: LIT Publisher Group.

Bogdan Voicu. 2010. Social Capital in Romania at the begginig of the Milenium: Traveller in the no-friends land?, Iaşi: Lumen (in Romanian language: pdf). [pdfof the English version of the fourth chapter]

Bogdan Voicu. 2012. Measuring Child-Rearing Values in the EVS and WVS. A Research Note, Social Change Review, 10(1): 47-70.

Bogdan Voicu. 2013. A Cross-Country Comparisons of Student Achievement: the Role of Social Values. International Journal of Sociology of Education, 2(3), 221-249. doi: 10.4471/rise.2013.32

Mălina Voicu, Claudiu Tufiş. 2013. Religion and Social Participation in Postcommunist Europe, pp. 203-217 in Joep de Hart, Paul Dekker, Loek Halman, Religion and Civil Society in Europe, Dordrecht: Springer.

Bogdan Voicu, Horațiu Rusu, Mircea Comșa. 2013. Atitudini faţă de solidaritate in România, [Attitudes towards solidarity in Romania], pp. 17-44 in Lucian Marina, ed., Ocupare şi incluziune socială[Employment and social inclusion], Cluj-Napoca: Cluj University Press.

Bogdan Voicu, Monica Şerban, Alexandra Deliu, Elena Tudor. 2013. Acquiescence effects in measuring attitudes towards immigrants: The case of Romania. Calitatea Vieţii3/2013: 311-340.

Bogdan Voicu. 2014. Participative Immigrants or Participative Cultures? The Importance of Cultural Heritage in Determining Involvement in Associations,VOLUNTAS: International Journal of Voluntary and Nonprofit Organizations,25(3):612-635[JCR Impact factor (2012): 0.881]

Bogdan Voicu. 2014. Immigrants and social trust: Mind the cultural gap?,Studia PoliticaXIV(2): 201-220.

Claudiu Tufiş. 2012. Learning Democracy and Market Economy in Post-Communist Romania, Iaşi: Institutul European Press.

Cosima Rughiniş. 2002. Valori europene în relaţiile intime. Studiu comparativ[European values in intimate relations. A comparative study], Sociologie Românească, 2002, 1-2, 38-75.

Horațiu Rusu & Andrei Gheorghiță. 2014. Transnational Solidarity and Public Support for the EU Enlargement, Sociologia – Slovak Sociological Review46(3): 261-282.

Mălina Voicu & Bogdan Voicu. 2002. Gender values dynamics. Towards a common European pattern?, Romanian Journal of Sociology, XIII (2002), 1-2, p. 42-63.

Mălina Voicu & Bogdan Voicu. 2002. Studiul valorilor europene: un proiect de cercetare internaţională. Calitatea Vieţiinr. 1-4/2002.

Mălina Voicu & Bogdan Voicu. 2003.Volunteering in România: a rara avis în Paul Dekker şi Loek Halman (editori), The Values of Volunteering. Cross-Cultural Perspectives, Kluwer Publishers, 2003 , 143-160

Mălina Voicu & Bogdan Voicu. 2004. Promoting volunteering in Eastern Europe, European Conference and Exchange Forum about Volunteering, 7-9 November, Maastricht.

Mălina Voicu & Ioana Alexandra Rusu. 2012. Immigrants’ membership in civic associations: why are some immigrants moreactive than others?. International Sociology, 27(6): 788 – 806. [2011 Impact Factor: 0.732]

Mălina Voicu, Bogdan Voicu,Katarina Strapcova. 2009. Housework and gender inequality in European countries, European Sociological Review 25(3): 365-377

Malina Voicu. 1999. Între cratiţă şi parlament – legitimitatea politicilor de suport pentru femei în România [Between Kitchen and Parliament. The Legitimacy of the Policy of Support for Women in Romania]. Revista de Cercetări Sociale,nr. 3-4/1999

Malina Voicu. 2000. Atitudinea fata de impozite in Romania [Declarative support and effective rejection. The attitude towards taxes in Romania in the transition period], in Sociologie Romaneasca, serie noua, nr. 3-4/2000

Mălina Voicu. 2001. Modernitate religioasă în societatea românească [Religious Modernity in Romanian Society], în Sociologie Românească,nr. 1-4/2001, p. 70-96

Mălina Voicu. 2002. Egalitate, inegalitate şi roluri tradiţionale. O analiză comparativă a valorilor implicate în legitimarea politicilor de suport pentru femei în ţările europene [Equality, Inequality and Traditional Roles. A Comparative analysis of the Values Involved in the Legitimation of policies for Women Support in European Countries], Calitatea Vieţiinr. 1-4/2002

Mălina Voicu. 2004. How secular is Romania?, The Annual Conference of the Asociation for the Study of Religion in  CEE (ISORECEA), Catholic University Pázmány Péter, Budapest, December, 2004.

Mălina Voicu. 2004. Women Work and Family Life: Value Patterns and Policy Making, in Will Arts şi Loek Halman (eds) – European Values at the turn of the Millenium, Brill Book, Leiden

Mălina Voicu. 2005. Religiousness and gender across Europe.in Horaţiu Rusu, Bogdan Voicu eds. EU Integration Process from EAST to EAST: Civil Society and Ethnic Minorities in a Changing World, Sibiu: Psihomedia.

Mălina Voicu. 2007. România religioasă. Pe valul european sau în urma lui?[Religious Romania. On the European tide or behind it?], Iaşi: Editura Institutul European.

Mălina Voicu. 2009. Religion and Gender across Europe. Social Compass, vol 56, Nr. 2 , 144-162.

Monica Şerban & Bogdan Voicu. 2010. Romanian migrants to Spain: in or outside the migrant networks – a matter of time?, Revue d’études comparatives Est-Ouest, 41(4): 97-124. [JCR Impact factor (2009): 0.054]

Paula Tufiş. 2001. Structura sociala si etnicitate [Social structure and ethnicity]. Sociologie Românească, 2001, 1-4, 97-123.

Voicu, B., Telegyi, B. (2016) Dynamics of Social Values: 1990–2012, Acta Universitatis Sapientiae, Social Analyses, 6(1): 7−30.

Voicu, Malina, Bogdan Voicu. 2016. „Civic Participation and Gender Beliefs: An Analysis of 46 Countries.“ Sociologický časopis / Czech Sociological Review52 (3): 321-346

Voicu, Mălina. 2010. Valori sociale ale tranziţiei post-comuniste. Iași Lumen.