IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/mth/jsss88/v2y2015i1p144-164.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

The Role of Cognitive and Cultural Sophistication on Diversity Outcomes: Differences Across Fields of Study

Author

Listed:
  • Brian P. An
  • Wei-Lin Chen

Abstract

Social scientists generally consider college education important in increasing tolerance toward other social groups, and studies show a positive relation between education and tolerance. Despite this positive relation, previous research generally does not examine the influence of fields of study on diversity outcomes. Moreover, prior research has used crude measures to test the influence of cognitive and cultural sophistication, the proposed mechanism through which education increases tolerance. Using longitudinal data of college students, this research addressed whether the ¡°liberalizing¡± effects of college education on diversity outcomes are due to the increase in cognitive and cultural sophistication, as proponents claim or whether these liberalizing effects of college education on diversity outcomes differ by fields of study. Partial support was found that cognitive and cultural sophistication increase diversity outcomes. Students' need for cognition and peer discussions about diversity increases diversity outcomes. Little evidence was found that the influence of cognitive and cultural sophistication on diversity outcomes differs by fields of study. Although the influence of cognitive and cultural sophistication on diversity outcomes is similar across fields of study, differences in the degree of exposure to cognitive and cultural sophistication account for a large share of the gap in diversity outcomes by fields of study.

Suggested Citation

  • Brian P. An & Wei-Lin Chen, 2015. "The Role of Cognitive and Cultural Sophistication on Diversity Outcomes: Differences Across Fields of Study," Journal of Social Science Studies, Macrothink Institute, vol. 2(1), pages 144-164, January.
    • Handle: RePEc:mth:jsss88:v:2:y:2015:i:1:p:144-164
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.macrothink.org/journal/index.php/jsss/article/view/6338/5281
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: http://www.macrothink.org/journal/index.php/jsss/article/view/6338/5281
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Eric A. Hanushek & John F. Kain & Steven G. Rivkin, 2009. "New Evidence about Brown v. Board of Education: The Complex Effects of School Racial Composition on Achievement," Journal of Labor Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 27(3), pages 349-383, July.
    2. Steven Brint & Mark Riddle & Lori Turk-Bicakci & Charles S. Levy, 2005. "From the Liberal to the Practical Arts in American Colleges and Universities: Organizational Analysis and Curricular Change," The Journal of Higher Education, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 76(2), pages 151-180, March.
    3. Mitchell J. Chang & Nida Denson & Victor Sáenz & Kimberly Misa, 2006. "The Educational Benefits of Sustaining Cross-Racial Interaction among Undergraduates," The Journal of Higher Education, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 77(3), pages 430-455, May.
    4. Freeman, James A. & Hirsch, Barry T., 2008. "College majors and the knowledge content of jobs," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 27(5), pages 517-535, October.
    5. John W. Ayers & C. Richard Hofstetter & Keith Schnakenberg & Bohdan Kolody, 2009. "Is Immigration a Racial Issue? Anglo Attitudes on Immigration Policies in a Border County," Social Science Quarterly, Southwestern Social Science Association, vol. 90(3), pages 593-610, September.
    6. Robst, John, 2007. "Education and job match: The relatedness of college major and work," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 26(4), pages 397-407, August.
    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. Brian P. An & Chad N. Loes, 2023. "Participation in High-Impact Practices: Considering the Role of Institutional Context and a Person-Centered Approach," Research in Higher Education, Springer;Association for Institutional Research, vol. 64(4), pages 520-546, June.

    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.
    1. Hilmer, Michael J. & Hilmer, Christiana E., 2012. "On the relationship between student tastes and motivations, higher education decisions, and annual earnings," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 31(1), pages 66-75.
    2. Drew Allen & Gregory C. Wolniak, 2019. "Exploring the Effects of Tuition Increases on Racial/Ethnic Diversity at Public Colleges and Universities," Research in Higher Education, Springer;Association for Institutional Research, vol. 60(1), pages 18-43, February.
    3. Tang, Rongsheng & Wang, Gaowang, 2021. "Educational mismatch and income inequality," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 100(C).
    4. Jiang, Shengjun & Guo, Yilan, 2022. "Reasons for college major-job mismatch and labor market outcomes: Evidence from China," China Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 74(C).
    5. Berlingieri, Francesco & Zierahn, Ulrich, 2014. "Field of study, qualification mismatch, and wages: Does sorting matter?," ZEW Discussion Papers 14-076, ZEW - Leibniz Centre for European Economic Research.
    6. Hadavand, Aboozar & Thomas, Sarah M & Almasi, Pooya & Gharehgozli, Orkideh, 2019. "Relevance of Education to Occupation: A New Empirical Approach Based on College Courses," OSF Preprints 8ysgz, Center for Open Science.
    7. Ransom, Michael R. & Phipps, Aaron, 2016. "The Changing Occupational Distribution by College Major," IZA Discussion Papers 10193, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    8. Tang, Rongsheng & Wang, Gaowang, 2021. "Educational mismatch and earnings inequality," MPRA Paper 106953, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    9. Deborah M. Weiss & Matthew L. Spitzer & Colton Cronin & Neil Chin, 2024. "Why college majors and selectivity matter: Major groupings, occupation specificity, and job skills," Contemporary Economic Policy, Western Economic Association International, vol. 42(2), pages 278-304, April.
    10. Domadenik, Polona & Far?nik, Daša & Pastore, Francesco, 2013. "Horizontal Mismatch in the Labour Market of Graduates: The Role of Signalling," IZA Discussion Papers 7527, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    11. Card, David & Rothstein, Jesse, 2007. "Racial segregation and the black-white test score gap," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 91(11-12), pages 2158-2184, December.
    12. Ehlers, Lars & Hafalir, Isa E. & Yenmez, M. Bumin & Yildirim, Muhammed A., 2014. "School choice with controlled choice constraints: Hard bounds versus soft bounds," Journal of Economic Theory, Elsevier, vol. 153(C), pages 648-683.
    13. Chaudhary, Latika & Rubin, Jared, 2011. "Reading, writing, and religion: Institutions and human capital formation," Journal of Comparative Economics, Elsevier, vol. 39(1), pages 17-33, March.
    14. Tugce, Cuhadaroglu, 2013. "My Group Beats Your Group: Evaluating Non-Income Inequalities," SIRE Discussion Papers 2013-49, Scottish Institute for Research in Economics (SIRE).
    15. Yuen Leng Chow & Isa E. Hafalir & Abdullah Yavas, 2015. "Auction versus Negotiated Sale: Evidence from Real Estate Sales," Real Estate Economics, American Real Estate and Urban Economics Association, vol. 43(2), pages 432-470, June.
    16. Sellami Sana & Verhaest Dieter & Nonneman Walter & Van Trier Walter, 2017. "The Impact of Educational Mismatches on Wages: The Influence of Measurement Error and Unobserved Heterogeneity," The B.E. Journal of Economic Analysis & Policy, De Gruyter, vol. 17(1), pages 1-20, February.
    17. Thomas Lemieux, 2014. "Occupations, fields of study and returns to education," Canadian Journal of Economics, Canadian Economics Association, vol. 47(4), pages 1047-1077, November.
    18. Pedros Silos & Eric Smith, 2015. "Human Capital Portfolios," Review of Economic Dynamics, Elsevier for the Society for Economic Dynamics, vol. 18(3), pages 635-652, July.
    19. Maestri, Virginia, 2013. "Promoting scientific faculties: Does it work? Evidence from Italy," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 32(C), pages 168-180.
    20. Carnoy, Martin & Rosa, Leonardo & Simões, Alexandre, 2022. "Trends in the academic achievement gap between high and low social class children: The case of Brazil," International Journal of Educational Development, Elsevier, vol. 94(C).

    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:mth:jsss88:v:2:y:2015:i:1:p:144-164. 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: Technical Support Office (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.macrothink.org/journal/index.php/jsss .

    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.