IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/bla/socsci/v90y2009i2p446-460.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

The Culture of Academic Disciplines and the Sociopolitical Attitudes of Students: A Test of Selection and Socialization Effects

Author

Listed:
  • Mark Elchardus
  • Bram Spruyt

Abstract

Objective. Using cross‐sectional and panel data, this article estimates to what extent the association between students' choice of academic discipline and their sociopolitical attitudes is due to socialization and selection effects. Methods. This is done on the basis of seven incoming cohorts of students and one panel of students. Changes in the panel are controlled for contextual influences by comparing them to a control group. Results. Both selection and socialization effects are observed. The first are, however, much stronger than the second. Conclusions. Although the literature, and particularly the more popular literature, highlights socialization effects, these turn out to be very modest. Future research should address the questions of how and why students select academic disciplines in a way that establishes strong relations between those disciplines and their sociopolitical attitudes.

Suggested Citation

  • Mark Elchardus & Bram Spruyt, 2009. "The Culture of Academic Disciplines and the Sociopolitical Attitudes of Students: A Test of Selection and Socialization Effects," Social Science Quarterly, Southwestern Social Science Association, vol. 90(2), pages 446-460, June.
    • Handle: RePEc:bla:socsci:v:90:y:2009:i:2:p:446-460
    DOI: 10.1111/j.1540-6237.2009.00626.x
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1540-6237.2009.00626.x
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1111/j.1540-6237.2009.00626.x?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Heine Andersen, 1999. "Political attitudes and cognitive convictions among Danish social science researchers," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 46(1), pages 87-108, September.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Fischer, Mira & Kauder, Björn & Potrafke, Niklas & Ursprung, Heinrich W., 2017. "Support for free-market policies and reforms: Does the field of study influence students' political attitudes?," European Journal of Political Economy, Elsevier, vol. 48(C), pages 180-197.
    2. Maité Laméris & Pierre-Guillaume Méon & Anne-Marie Van Prooijen, 2019. "What have we done? The impact of choosing and studying different academic disciplines on beliefs and values," Working Papers CEB 19-007, ULB -- Universite Libre de Bruxelles.
    3. Coelho Junior, Francisco Antonio & Hedler, Helga & Faiad, Cristiane & Marques-Quinteiro, Pedro, 2020. "Determinants of political behavior and the role of technology in the classroom: An empirical investigation in Brazil," Technology in Society, Elsevier, vol. 62(C).
    4. Maite D. Laméris & Pierre-Guillaume Méon & Anne-Marie Prooijen, 2023. "What have we done?! The impact of economics on the beliefs and values of business students," Journal of Business Economics, Springer, vol. 93(3), pages 433-483, April.
    5. Potrafke, Niklas & Fischer, Mira & Ursprung, Heinrich, 2013. "Does the Field of Study Influence Students' Political Attitudes?," VfS Annual Conference 2013 (Duesseldorf): Competition Policy and Regulation in a Global Economic Order 79934, Verein für Socialpolitik / German Economic Association.
    6. Weisenfeld, Ursula & Ott, Ingrid, 2011. "Academic discipline and risk perception of technologies: An empirical study," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 40(3), pages 487-499, April.
    7. Liesbet Hooghe & Gary Marks, "undated". "The Social Roots of the Transnational Cleavage: Education, Occupation, and Sex," RSCAS Working Papers 2022/53, European University Institute.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.

      More about this item

      Statistics

      Access and download statistics

      Corrections

      All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:bla:socsci:v:90:y:2009:i:2:p:446-460. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

      If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

      If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

      If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

      For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Wiley Content Delivery (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.blackwellpublishing.com/journal.asp?ref=0038-4941 .

      Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

      IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.