Gender differential effect of college on political orientation over the last 40 years in the U.S.-A propensity score weighting approach.

Journal Article (Journal Article)

It is well-known that the more educated people are, the more liberal views they tend to express. However, it is unclear whether this is due to college attendance itself or because those who go to college differ from those who do not in ways (directly or indirectly) related to their later political identification. In this paper, we therefore attempt to estimate the effect of college on political identification net of people's tendencies to select into college using an inverse probability of treatment weighting approach. Based on data from the General Social Survey, we analyze how this effect has changed over time and whether college affects the political identification of women in the same ways as that of men. We find evidence consistent with the argument that college attendance politicizes both men and women. Moreover, we show that not only the general, but also the gender specific effects change markedly across the decades. This raises questions about the different mechanisms at play in how college mobilizes men and women politically.

Full Text

Duke Authors

Cited Authors

  • Edelmann, A; Vaisey, S

Published Date

  • January 2023

Published In

Volume / Issue

  • 18 / 1

Start / End Page

  • e0279273 -

PubMed ID

  • 36652414

Pubmed Central ID

  • PMC9847899

Electronic International Standard Serial Number (EISSN)

  • 1932-6203

International Standard Serial Number (ISSN)

  • 1932-6203

Digital Object Identifier (DOI)

  • 10.1371/journal.pone.0279273

Language

  • eng