Values, i.e. our personal convictions of what is good and bad, right and wrong, do not only heavily impact on our own behaviour, but also play an important role for the ability of societies to adapt to changing circumstances, if necessary. Depending on the nature of these values, they may have facilitating or hindering effects on social innovation. One might for instance think of the widespread hesitation in the US to introduce a comprehensive health care system due to suspicions of too much state interference in privacy and freedom, or the current wave of populist protests within Germany against immigration and multiculturalism.

On an aggregated level, the World Values Survey (WVS, www.worldvaluessurvey.org) measures values on a global scale since 1981, with Egypt being included since 2001. The WVS illustratively shows a circular effect which can be attested: For one, changing societal situations trigger changes in the basic values of a society, and at the same time, altering values impact on societies as well. During this next Dialogue on Social Innovation, two distinguished experts will analyse the importance of “Values as Drivers for Social Innovation” with a global view, but also with a particular focus on Egypt.

Prof. Christian Welzel is Professor for Political Culture Research at the Leuphana University of Lüneburg, Germany, and Vice President of the World Values Survey. His main interests deal with Social Change, Human Development and Democratization, as well as Value Formation, Cultural Change and Public Opinion. He received various grants and fellowships and published more than 100 academic articles, and 9 books.

Prof. Magued Osman is founder and director of the Baseera Center in Cairo, Egypt, and professor at the Faculty of Economics and Political Science of Cairo University. He is one of Egypt’s leading experts in public opinion research and sampling, as well as statistical and demographic analysis. He has coordinated numerous statistical studies in the Arab World, and authored many publications in foreign peer-reviewed journals. In 2012, he served as the World Values Survey’s Principal Investigator for Egypt. 

The dialogue will be moderated by Dr. Jan Claudius Völkel, DAAD longterm lecturer at Cairo University.

The Dialogue on Social Innovation is jointly organized by the Cairo offices of the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD), Freie Universität Berlin, and the Orient-Institut Beirut (OIB).

See the list of previous DSI