Webinar in May 2024

Education-based Affective Attitudes: Higher Educated-Bias is Related to More Political Trust and Less Populism (May 29, 2024)

Recent political trends and events have been marked by strong educational differences. In addition, education has also been shown to be a basis for group identity and group conflict. This analysis argues that educational groups are likely to understand their position in society and their inclusion or exclusion (in politics) as being related to their educational level. Thus, it is likely that education-based affective attitudes are related to evaluations of the societal and political status quo. Using data from nine European countries, this research charts the relationships of higher educated-bias (i.e., the preference for higher educated compared to less educated groups) with different political outcomes. The results demonstrate that the higher educated show ingroup bias, in particular those who identify strongly with their educational group. The less educated do not show (significant) ingroup bias. Those who have a stronger (positive) bias towards the higher educated display more political trust and satisfaction with democracy and are less likely to be populist. Support for populism was measured in four different ways with populist attitudes, populist voting, affective attitudes towards populist party supporters compared with mainstream party supporters, and identification with ‘the common people.’ [See full article text here].

Jochem van Noord is a political sociologist and political-psychologist who works as a post-doctoral researcher as part of the Brussels Institute of Social and Population Studies (BRISPO; research cluster TOR) at the Vrije Universiteit Brussel. Jochem received his (double) PhD from the Vrije Universiteit Brussel and the University of Groningen in 2021, with an interdisciplinary research project about education-based status, combining both sociological and social psychological theories and methods, with a little bit of political science mixed in. Jochem worked as a post-doctoral researcher at the University of Groningen on a international research project (UNDPOLAR) about polarization, belief systems, and identities, which is again an interdisciplinary project combining again, sociology, social psychology, and political science. Currently, Jochem works on a project around generalized perceptions of social conflict, or 'conflict thinking'. His research interests revolve around inequality, group conflict, and culture/identity, primarily in the political domain.