Education and Attitudes toward Interpersonal and State-Sanctioned Violence

Landon Schnabel

doi:10.1017/s1049096518000094

Abstract

ABSTRACTThe link between education and liberal attitudes is among the most consistent findings in public-opinion research, but the theoretical explanations for this relationship warrant additional attention. Previous work suggested that the relationship is due to education socializing students to the “official culture” of the United States. This study uses the World Values Survey and General Social Survey to examine Americans’ attitudes toward the justifiability of violence. I find that Americans with more education are less likely to say that interpersonal violence—against women, children, and other individuals—can be justifiable. However, they are more likely to say that state-sanctioned violence—war and police violence—can be justifiable. These patterns are consistent with a modified socialization model of education and social attitudes. I conclude that American education socializes people to establishment culture, identity, and interests, which differentiate between unacceptable interpersonal violence and ostensibly acceptable state-sanctioned violence.

Highlights

IntroductionPublic-opinion research seeks to understand the social forces that shape peoples’ beliefs, values, and identities, and education has long been one of the most used and most consistent predictors of social attitudes (Bobo and Licari 1989; Brooks 2006; Hyman and Wright 1979; Kingston et al 2003; Page and Shapiro 1992; Schnabel and Sevell 2017; Selznick and Steinberg 1969; Smith 1995; Stouffer 1955; Weakliem 2002; Weil 1985)
A subsection of highly educated Americans has vocally opposed state-sanctioned violence, but what does the average college-educated American think about state-sanctioned violence that does not negatively affect people like them and which could be seen as upholding their interests? Support for—or at least complacency toward—state-sanctioned violence among the growing college-educated population in the United States could help explain why Americans have not put an end to ethically problematic state violence
Being non-Latinx white had a similar impact to having more education: non-Latinx blacks, Latinxs, and people in the “other race” category were more likely than whites to say that interpersonal violence can be justified but less likely to believe in necessary war

Summary

Introduction

Public-opinion research seeks to understand the social forces that shape peoples’ beliefs, values, and identities, and education has long been one of the most used and most consistent predictors of social attitudes (Bobo and Licari 1989; Brooks 2006; Hyman and Wright 1979; Kingston et al 2003; Page and Shapiro 1992; Schnabel and Sevell 2017; Selznick and Steinberg 1969; Smith 1995; Stouffer 1955; Weakliem 2002; Weil 1985). In the traditional socialization model, education socializes students to the “official culture” of individualism, libertarianism, and antiauthoritarianism (e.g., Phelan et al 1995). The education-as-development model for the relationship between education and attitudes was the traditional view held by foundational social psychologists and public-opinion researchers (e.g., Adorno et al 1950; Rokeach 1960; Stouffer 1955), key work has since found greater support for an education-as-socialization model (e.g., Phelan et al 1995; Selznick and Steinberg 1969; Stubager 2008; Weil 1985). The official culture of the United States emphasizes tolerance, individualism, and the myth of meritocracy

Methods

Results

Conclusion