Learning Tolerance: The Impact of Comparative Politics Courses on Levels of Cultural Sensitivity

Abstract

ABSTRACT In addition to exposing students to basic concepts, theories, and ideas, teachers of comparative politics often claim to foster and promote values of tolerance and cultural sensitivity through exposure to the histories, cultures, and societies of cases from around the world. This claim, however, has been largely speculative and unsupported by any empirical research to date. In order to evaluate this claim, I employ a quasi-experimental design to test for the effects of two separate courses on levels of student intercultural sensitivity. Both courses focused on East-Central European politics, but one was taught in a regular classroom setting and the other in the Czech Republic. My findings support the following arguments: 1) in general, comparative politics courses appear to have a positive and significant impact on the levels of student intercultural sensitivity; 2) the differences in the impact of an on-campus and an off-campus course on levels of cultural sensitivity is negligible; and 3) students who study a region prior to studying in the region demonstrate in the aggregate greater improvements in their level of intercultural sensitivity than students who studied abroad only.