Views on globalisation shaped less by education than we tend to think

Globalisation is a divisive issue in Western European societies, hotly disputed between people who are open to blurring the boundaries between nations and people who are resistant to doing so for fear of losing their culture and their way of life. There is a correlation between level of education and the side of the divide that citizens are on. Sociologist Sander Kunst studied whether and how education contributes to views on European integration and immigration, the most significant topics associated with the divide. He concludes that our views are shaped less by education than we tend to think and that the parental environment exerts a marked influence. He will defend his PhD thesis at the University of Amsterdam on Thursday 17 February. In recent years, globalisation has increasingly set groups in Western Europe in opposition to one another. The two most significant political topics of contention are immigration and European integration. There exists a strong correlation between level of education and the stance adopted by citizens. In that respect, the well-educated are more likely to be pro-immigration and pro-EU, whereas those with a lower level of education are more likely to be against. However, there is still a considerable lack of clarity on whether and how exactly education might bring about these differences of opinion. Sociologist Sander Kunst studied the education gap in views on globalisation and concluded that differences in type or duration of education alone are insufficient to explain this gap between the well-educated and those with a lower level of education. 'It may well be that the parental environment exerts a marked influence that cannot be completely undone by education.' Can views be moulded by education?