In the framework of the EUI Political Behaviour Colloquium, this seminar features a paper presentation by EUI Researcher Jona de Jong.
In Europe, citizens with and without tertiary education are divided on policy and politics. The educated generally welcome immigrants, support European integration and increasingly vote for Green or social-liberal parties. Citizens without tertiary education are less positive about immigration and the EU, and increasingly vote for Populist Radical Right Parties. What explains this divide?
The dominant explanation in the literature holds that attending higher education liberalises people, but empirical evidence is mixed. This paper puts forward a novel explanation. It argues that initial differences caused by the liberalising effect of education have grown as the result of increased education-based homogeneity of individual networks. In contrast to a few decades ago, a large proportion of educated individuals surround themselves primarily with other educated individuals. We demonstrate that educated networks exert an influence on an individual's attitudes and voting that is independent of their own level of education. We substantiate this argument with the use of survey data from the ESS, and panel data from the Netherlands, Switzerland and Germany. Our findings have three implications. First, they highlight the importance of social closure for the formation and consolidation of contemporary cleavages. Second, they reconcile liberalisation and socialisation explanations for education-based divides by showing that often, education only liberalises those from a lower educated background. Third, they show that group isolation can exacerbate group divides, underlining the need for policies that encourage and facilitate interactions between citizens from all backgrounds.
Co-authored with Jonne Kamphorst (European University Institute)
The speaker will be presenting online. The paper, not to be circulated, will be attached to the reminder on Monday. Participants can follow the talk from Seminar room 2, although space is restricted on a first-come, first-served basis.