Past research shows a statistically significant relationship between college completion and sociopolitical attitudes. However, recent scholarship suggests the effects of college on social outcomes may be confounded with unobserved family background. In this study, we leverage the shared family and social background of siblings to better identify the effect of college on sociopolitical attitudes. We draw data from the Study of American Families and General Social Survey and use sibling fixed effects to assess the effect of college on political orientation, support for civil liberties, and beliefs about gender egalitarianism. We find that earning a four-year college degree has a significant impact on support for civil liberties and beliefs about gender egalitarianism, but the effect of college on political orientation is confounded by family background.
AcockAlan C.BengtsonVern L.1978. “On the Relative Influence of Mothers and Fathers: A Covariance Analysis of Political and Religious Socialization.” Journal of Marriage and Family no. 40(3):519-30. doi:10.2307/350932
2.
BlauPeter M.DuncanOtis Dudley. 1967. The American Occupational Structure. New York: Wiley and Sons.
3.
BoboLawrenceLicariFrederick C.1989. “Education and Political Tolerance: Testing the Effects of Cognitive Sophistication and Target Group Affect.” Public Opinion Quarterly53(3):285-308. doi:10.2307/2749123
4.
BolzendahlCatherine I.MyersDaniel J.2004. “Feminist Attitudes and Support for Gender Equality: Opinion Change in Women and Men, 1974-1998.” Social Forces83(2):759-89.
5.
BowmanNicholas A.2013. “How Much Diversity Is Enough? The Curvilinear Relationship between College Diversity Interactions and First-year Student Outcomes.” Research in Higher Education54(8):874-94. doi:10.1007/s11162-013-9300-0
6.
BrandJennie E.XieYu. 2010. “Who Benefits Most from College? Evidence for Negative Selection in Heterogeneous Economic Returns to Higher Education.” American Sociological Review75(2):273-302. doi:10.1177/0003122410363567
7.
BraungartRichard G.1971. “Family Status, Socialization, and Student Politics: A Multivariate Analysis.” American Journal of Sociology77(1):108-30. doi:10.2307/2776679
8.
BrennanJ.2008. “Higher Education and Social Change.” Higher Education56(3):381-93. doi:10.1007/s1073 4-008-9126-4
9.
BrintSteven. 2005. “Creating the Future: ‘New Directions’ in American Research Universities.” Minerva43(1):23-50. doi:10.1007/s11024-004-6620-4
10.
BryantAlyssa N.2003. “Changes in Attitudes toward Women’s Roles: Predicting Gender-role Traditionalism among College Students.” Sex Roles48(3/4):131-42. doi:10.1023/a:1022451205292
11.
CampbellColin. 2015. “The Socioeconomic Consequences of Dropping Out of High School: Evidence from an Analysis of Siblings.” Social Science Research51:108-18. doi:10.1016/j.ssresearch.2014.12.011
12.
ConleyDalton. 2001. “Capital for College: Parental Assets and Postsecondary Schooling.” Sociology of Education74(1):59-72.
13.
CunninghamMick. 2008. “Changing Attitudes toward the Male Breadwinner, Female Homemaker Family Model: Influences of Women’s Employment and Education over the Lifecourse.” Social Forces87(1):299-323. doi:10.2307/20430858
14.
CurrieJanetThomasDuncan. 1995. “Does Head Start Make a Difference?”American Economic Review85(3):341-64. doi:10.2307/2118178
15.
DalhouseMarieFrideresJames S.1996. “Intergenerational Congruency: The Role of the Family in Political Attitudes of Youth.” Journal of Family Issues17(2):227-48. doi:10.1177/0192513960 17002005
DeyEric L.1996. “Undergraduate Political Attitudes: An Examination of Peer, Faculty, and Social Influences.” Research in Higher Education37(5):535-54. doi:10.2307/40196273
18.
DeyEric L.1997. “Undergraduate Political Attitudes: Peer Influence in Changing Social Contexts.” Journal of Higher Education68(4):398-413. doi:10.2307/2960009
19.
ElchardusMarkSpruytBram. 2009. “The Culture of Academic Disciplines and the Sociopolitical Attitudes of Students: A Test of Selection and Socialization Effects.” Social Science Quarterly90(2):446-60. doi:10.1111/j.1540-6237.2009.00626.x
20.
FinneyHenry C.1974. “Political Dimensions of College Impact on Civil-Libertarianism and the Integration of Political Perspective: A Longitudinal Analysis.” Sociology of Education no. 47 (2):214-250. doi: 10.2307/2112106.
21.
FreeseJeremyPowellBrianSteelmanLala Carr. 1999. “Rebel without a Cause or Effect: Birth Order and Social Attitudes.” American Sociological Review64(2):207-231. doi:10.2307/2657528
22.
GeronimusArline T.KorenmanSanders. 1992. “The Socioeconomic Consequences of Teen Childbearing Reconsidered.” Quarterly Journal of Economics107(4):1187-1214. doi:10.2307/2118385
23.
GlassJenniferBengtsonVern L.DunhamCharlotte Chorn. 1986. “Attitude Similarity in Three-generation Families: Socialization, Status Inheritance, or Reciprocal Influence?”American Sociological Review51(5):685-98. doi:10.2307/2095493
24.
GoldsteinJoshua R.WarrenJohn Robert. 2000. “Socioeconomic Reach and Heterogeneity in the Extended Family: Contours and Consequences.” Social Science Research29(3):382-404. doi:10.1006/ssre.2000.0676
25.
GreenDonald P.AronowPeter M.BerganDaniel E.GreenePamelaParisCeliaWeinbergerBeth I.2011. “Does Knowledge of Constitutional Principles Increase Support for Civil Liberties? Results from a Randomized Field Experiment.” Journal of Politics73(2):463-76. doi:10.1017/s0022381611000107
26.
GrossNeilFosseEthan. 2012. “Why Are Professors Liberal?”Theory and Society41(2):127-68. doi:10.1007/s11186-012-9163-y
27.
GuoGuangVanWeyLeah K.1999. “Sibship Size and Intellectual Development: Is the Relationship Causal?”American Sociological Review64(2):169-87. doi:10.2307/2657524
28.
HalabyCharles N.2004. “Panel Models in Sociological Research: Theory into Practice.” Annual Review of Sociology30:507-44. doi:10.2307/29737704
29.
HarrisRichard J.FirestoneJuanita M.1998. “Changes in Predictors of Gender Role Ideologies among Women: A Multivariate Analysis.” Sex Roles38(3/4):239-52. doi:10.1023/a:1018785100469
30.
HauserRobert M.MareRobert D.1994. Study of American Families. Madison, WI: Data and Program Library Service.
31.
HightonBenjamin. 2009. “Revisiting the Relationship between Educational Attainment and Political Sophistication.” Journal of Politics71(4):1564-76. doi:10.1017/s0022381609990077
32.
HorowitzJonathan. 2015. “Doing Less with More: Cohorts, Education, and Civic Participation in America.” Social Forces. doi:10.1093/sf/sov065
33.
HoutMichael. 2012. “Social and Economic Returns to College Education in the United States.” Annual Review of Sociology38(1):379-400. doi:10.1146/annurev.soc.012809.102503
34.
JacobyWilliam G.2009. “Ideology and Vote Choice in the 2004 Election.” Electoral Studies28(4):584-94. doi:10.1016/j.electstud.2009.05.021
35.
JenningsM. KentStokerLauraBowersJake. 2009. “Politics across Generations: Family Transmission Reexamined.” Journal of Politics71(3):782-99. doi:10.1017/s0022381609090719
36.
KamCindy D.PalmerCarl L.2008. “Reconsidering the Effects of Education on Political Participation.” Journal of Politics70(3):612-31. doi:10.1017/s0022381608080651
37.
KingstonPaul W.HubbardRyanLappBrentSchroederPaulWilsonJulia. 2003. “Why Education Matters.” Sociology of Education76(1):53-70.
38.
KlatchRebecca E.1999. A Generation Divided: The New Left, the New Right, and the 1960s. Berkeley: University of California Press.
39.
MarianiMack D.HewittGordon J.2008. “Indoctrination U.? Faculty Ideology and Changes in Student Political Orientation.” PS: Political Science & Politics41(4):773-83. doi:10.1017/S1049096508 081031
40.
MarkusHazel R.RyffCarol D.ConnerAlana L.PudberryEden K.BarnettKatherine L.2001. “Themes and Variations in American Understandings of Responsibility.” Pp. 349-99 in Caring and Doing for Others: Social Responsibility in the Domains of Family, Work, and Community, edited by RossiA. S.Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
41.
MoffattMichael. 1989. Coming of Age in New Jersey: College and American Culture. New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers University Press.
42.
MorganStephen L.ToddJennifer J.2008. “A Diagnostic Routine for the Detection of Consequential Heterogeneity of Causal Effects.” Sociological Methodology38(1):231-82. doi:10.1111/j.1467-95 31.2008.00204.x
43.
MorrisAldon D.1992. “Political Consciousness and Collective Action.” Pp. 351-73 in Frontiers in Social Movement Theory, edited by MorrisA. D.MuellerC. M.New Haven, CT: Yale University Press.
44.
OhlanderJulianneBatalovaJeanneTreasJudith. 2005. “Explaining Educational Influences on Attitudes toward Homosexual Relations.” Social Science Research34(4):781-99. doi:10.1016/j.ssresearch.2004.12.004
45.
PampelFred. 2011. “Cohort Changes in the Socio-demographic Determinants of Gender Egalitarianism.” Social Forces89(3):961-82.
46.
PerssonMikael. 2014. “Testing the Relationship between Education and Political Participation Using the 1970 British Cohort Study.” Political Behavior36(4):877-97. doi:10.1007/s11109-013-9254-0
47.
PhelanJoLinkBruce G.StueveAnnMooreRobert E.1995. “Education, Social Liberalism, and Economic Conservatism: Attitudes toward Homeless People.” American Sociological Review60(1):126-40.
48.
PollettaFrancesca. 1999. “‘Free Spaces’ in Collective Action.” Theory and Society28(1):1-38. doi:10.1023/a:1006941408302
49.
PollettaFrancesca. 2004. Freedom Is an Endless Meeting: Democracy in American Social Movements. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
50.
SchnittkerJasonBehrmanJere R.2012. “Learning to Do Well or Learning to Do Good? Estimating the Effects of Schooling on Civic Engagement, Social Cohesion, and Labor Market Outcomes in the Presence of Endowments.” Social Science Research41(2):306-20. doi:10.1016/j.ssresearch.2011.11.010
51.
SiebenIngeGraafPaul M. de. 2004. “Schooling or Social Origin?: The Bias in the Effect of Educational Attainment on Social Orientations.” European Sociological Review20(2):107-22. doi:10.2307/3559648
52.
SlaughterSheila. 1985. “From Serving Students to Serving the Economy: Changing Expectations of Faculty Role Performance.” Higher Education14(1):41-56.
53.
SlaughterSheilaRhoadesGary. 1996. “The Emergence of a Competitiveness Research and Development Policy Coalition and the Commercialization of Academic Science and Technology.” Science Technology & Human Values21(3):303-39. doi:10.1177/016224399602100303
54.
SmithTom W.MarsdenPeter V.HoutMichaelKimJibum. 2011. General Social Survey, 1972-2010. Chicago: National Opinion Research Center.
55.
TadmorCarmit T.HongYing-YiChaoMelody M.WiruchnipawanFonWangWei. 2012. “Multicultural Experiences Reduce Intergroup Bias through Epistemic Unfreezing.” Journal of Personality and Social Psychology103(5):750-72. doi:10.1037/a0029719
56.
WarrenJohn Robert. 2001. “Changes with Age in the Process of Occupational Stratification.” Social Science Research30(2):264-88. doi:10.1006/ssre.2000.0698
Please find the following supplemental material available below.
For Open Access articles published under a Creative Commons License, all supplemental material carries the same license as the article it is associated with.
For non-Open Access articles published, all supplemental material carries a non-exclusive license, and permission requests for re-use of supplemental material or any part of supplemental material shall be sent directly to the copyright owner as specified in the copyright notice associated with the article.
