INFLUENCE OF HIGHER EDUCATION ON YOUNG PEOPLE’S SOCIOPOLITICAL ORIENTATION / UTJECAJ VISOKOG OBRAZOVANJA NA SOCIOPOLITIČKU ORIJENTACIJU MLADIH

Abstract

In an attempt to identify the social factors that are responsible for differences in people’s attitudes and behavior, research has found that higher education leads to liberalisation in students sociopolitical orientations, and a careful review of the literature also points to specific college-related effects. It turns out that social science students are more liberal at the end of their studies than engineering or hard science students. Research showing no significant differences in prejudice among first year students enrolled in different academic majors provide strong support for the socialisation hypothesis, and represents an important challenge for the disposition model according to which students choose those disciplines that best match their current views. This paper provides a synthesis of relevant research which tested the effects of university socialisation and the mechanisms that could explain why students’ attitudes change differently depending on their academic major. We also point out some limitations of previous research and give some recommendations for future work in this area.