Studying at University does little to change our attitudes
Published: 30 January 2023
Research insight
Does studying at university really cause graduates to develop distinctive attitudinal profiles? A new study examines the evidence.
The link between educational attainment and socio-political values is well-established. In Britain today, university graduates, on average, have considerably more liberal cultural attitudes and somewhat less liberal economic attitudes than non-graduates.
But does studying at university really cause graduates to develop distinctive attitudinal profiles?
This is a question that has preoccupied social scientists for decades and is notoriously difficult to answer, because the relationship between educational attainment and socio-political attitudes is extremely complex.
Elizabeth Simon, a postdoctoral researcher in British Politics within the Mile End Institute at Queen Mary, University of London, has conducted a study to better identify the causal effect of university study on British individuals’ cultural and economic attitudes in the period 1994-2020, using the unique household structure of the British Household Panel Study and Understanding Society data.
See more on the John Smith Centre blog
First published: 30 January 2023
More information
Demystifying the link between higher education and liberal values: A within-sibship analysis of British individuals’ attitudes from 1994–2020, British Journal of Sociology, August 2022. (Open access journal article)