The Effect of Higher Education on Political Values

Abstract

In Western democracies in recent years, an individual's education has become increasingly important in understanding why people think and vote the way they do. Yet in the study of politics, education has rarely been a primary focus, and so the reasons for this influence remain understudied. To address this gap, this thesis seeks to estimate and explain the effect of attending higher education on political values, by addressing four motivating research questions. First, how much of the difference between graduates and non-graduates is attributable to a causal effect of university? Second, how does this effect vary based on individual characteristics and differences in university experience? Third, what can we learn about the effect from the trajectory of value change while studying? And fourth, how has the effect of higher education changed over time, as the participation rate and wider political context has changed? Answers to these questions are provided in a series of three papers, applying multi-level modelling techniques to longitudinal data. In these, I find that an individual becomes less racially prejudiced and more socially liberal as a result of attending university. The effect on economic values has changed between the two cohorts under study: while graduates used to become more right-wing, those in the most recent generation become more left-wing, perhaps explained by the changing socio-economic circumstances for graduates in the intervening period. The effect on social liberalism can be explained by a process of university socialisation, although whether that is more a top-down learning effect or due to the influence of peers requires further study. An additional finding from this analysis is the differential effect of study by gender: with the liberalising effect being twice as strong for women. Bringing together these insights, this thesis strengthens our understanding of a vital and underexplored aspect of contemporary political behaviour.

Date of Award	1 Aug 2023
Original language	English
Awarding Institution	The University of Manchester
Supervisor	Edward Fieldhouse (Supervisor) & Robert Ford (Supervisor)