ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Sociol.
Sec. Sociological Theory
Volume 10 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fsoc.2025.1487913
10 years’ cultural variation of Croatia from pre to post accession: the changed value and unchanged cultural position
Provisionally accepted
- Shanghai University of International Business and Economics, Shanghai, China
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10 years' cultural variation of Croatia from pre to post accession: the changed value and unchanged cultural position Croatia's accession to the European Union (EU) in 2013 completed its institutional integration; however, the alignment of its social and cultural values with those of other EU member states remains an ongoing process. This study examines the evolution of Croatia's value orientations from 2010 to 2020 and assesses whether the cultural value gap between Croatia and other EU members has narrowed. Utilizing Hofstede's cultural dimensions framework and data from rounds 5 and 10 of the European Social Survey (ESS), the study identifies significant cultural shifts: the decline in Masculinity, Uncertainty Avoidance, and Power Distance indexes, alongside an increase in Individualism. These shifts are in the same direction with those of the old EU members. However, despite these changes, Croatia's cultural value distance from other EU members has largely remained constant. Particularly, Power Distance index in Croatia is persistently higher than the average level. These findings suggest that the EU should strengthen its common values within the newly accessed members. Policies aimed at encouraging participation in EUwide cultural and economic projects may also bridge cultural divides. The study contributes to an understanding of cultural change in post-transition societies and their implications for EU integration.
Keywords: cultural value, Hofstede, Croatia, Transition, Cultural distance, the EU integration
Received: 29 Aug 2024; Accepted: 24 Jun 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Wang. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: Chunyan Wang, Shanghai University of International Business and Economics, Shanghai, China
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