The Contingent Effect of Education on Attitudes toward Immigrants

• In Event: 115 - Section on Asia and Asian America Refereed Roundtable Session and Business Meeting
  In Refereed Roundtable 60min: Table 02. Sociology of Education across Greater China

Abstract

What is the role of formal education in shaping people’s attitude toward immigrants? The education-as-liberation thesis suggests that increased education would accompany with enhanced tolerance, whereas the ideological refinement hypothesis implies that there could be no, if not a negative, relationship between education on attitudes toward immigrants. The empirical findings are also mixed, which means that both the above-mentioned theories can find support from extant studies. To reconcile, we suggest that the effect of education is contingent. It is contingent in two senses. First, the influence of education largely depends on what type of school people attended and what kind of educational content they received. Second, the impact of educational attainment is contingent on the previous schooling experience. Using data from the Hong Kong Panel Study of Social Dynamics (HKPSSD), we show these contingent effects in the context of Hong Kong. We also test and consequently dismiss other potential explanations, namely, labor market conditions, social contacts, and parental transmission. This research highlights the importance of considering the diverse educational products and the possibly non-linear schooling process if we want to understand how education shapes people’s attitudes.

Author

• Tianzhu Nie