Eldad Davidov

Eldad Davidov is Professor at the Department for Sociology and Social Psychology at the University of Cologne, Germany. He was president of the European Survey Research Association (ESRA) between 2015 and 2017. His research interests are applications of structural equation modeling and measurement to survey data, especially in cross-cultural research. His substantive research addresses topics such as attitudes toward minorities, immigrants and refugees, antisemitism, and causes and consequences of basic human life from a comparative perspective.

The project

Title: Antisemitism in Germany and France in a comparative perspective

"My research interests concentrate on attitudes toward minorities, immigration, antisemitism, cross-cultural comparisons and longitudinal analysis of public opinion using international large-scale surveys. In my research I analyze opinions, attitudes, basic human values and how they are related to each other. I have studied how values like universalism or conservation are associated with more or less open attitudes toward immigration but also toward other minorities such as LGBTIQ+. These studies have repeatedly suggested that abstract universalistic motivational goals are associated with less fear from and more openness toward immigrants, whereas conservation and tradition are motivational goals that are in opposition to such attitudes. Together with a team of international scholars led by Professor Anthony Heath from Oxford University we developed and implemented a rotating module for the seventh Round of the European Social Survey (2014-2015) on the topic of attitudes toward immigration. On the basis of the ESS data collected in European countries we edited a special issue in the Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies in 2020 with a series of papers examining the interplay between values, symbolic and economic threat due to immigration, perceived size of the immigrant population, contact or group-relative deprivation and opposition to immigration while considering contextual moderating elements like the political climate and norms or regulations in the country or the economic and social conditions. Recently we have completed a new module on the topic for the ESS data for the 12th round to be collected next year with a special focus on refugees and asylum seekers."

Hosting Institution: Sciences Po - Centre for European Studies and Comparative Politics

Selective Bibliography

• Can the PVQ-21 measure Schwartz’s refined values? (2025). Vecchione, M. and E. Davidov. Journal of Personality Assessment. 
• Antisemitism among Muslim immigrants in Germany (2025). Czymara, C.S., M. Eisentraut, P. Kolkwitz-Anstötz, E. Davidov and P. Schmidt. European Sociological Review. 
• One and the same? How similar are basic human values and behavioral economic preferences (2024). Scharfbillig, M., J. Cieciuch and E. Davidov. Plos One 19(2): e0296852. 
• In search of a comparable measure of generalized individual religiosity in the World Values Survey (2024). Remizova, A., M. Rudnev and E. Davidov. Sociological Methods and Research 53(2), 839-871. 
• Basic human values and preferences for an EU-wide social benefit scheme (2024). Reinl, A.-K., D. Seddig, J. Dennison and E. Davidov. Journal of Common Market Studies 62(2), 564-582. 
• Measurement invariance in the social sciences: Historical development, methodological challenges, state of the art, and future perspectives (2023). Leitgöb, H., D. Seddig, T. Asparouhov, D. Behr, E. Davidov, K. De Roover, S. Jak, K. Meitinger, N. Menold, B. Muthén, M. Rudnev, P. Schmidt and R. van de Schoot. Social Science Research 110.