Higher Education and the Development of Moral Foundations

• In Event: 4467 - Section on Social Psychology Refereed Roundtables (Cosponsored with Section on Sociology of Emotions)
  In Refereed Roundtable 100min: Table 7: Class and Status

Abstract

Universities have historically occupied an important role in cultivating the morals of future generations. With the American public becoming more divided on the direction moral development should take, however, the University’s role has become more heavily scrutinized. And yet, despite polemics, research on higher education’s effects on attitudes is less than clear-cut. A growing sociological literature on education suggests that it plays a far more limited role in shaping attitudes than is often believed. Attitudes often crystallize prior to enrollment. When education does shape attitudes, furthermore, scholars are also unclear on the mechanisms involved. Using four-wave panel data from the National Study of Youth and Religion (2003-2013) we assess the effect of higher education on moral attitudes, controlling for parental socialization and ideological beliefs prior to enrollment. By adjudicating between the cognitive hypothesis and the socialization hypothesis, moreover, we examine the mechanisms involved. The former emphasizes the process of cognitive development while the latter stresses the role of curricular content in addressing how higher education may shape moral development. Our results lend greater support for the socialization hypothesis, demonstrating that moral development varies according the fields that students major in. Far from a having a monolithic effect, higher education tends to have the strongest effect for those in business degrees, who tend to become more conservative in their moral attitudes than even those without higher education. Majoring in humanities, social sciences, or arts, by contrast, tends to make students more liberal. That this effect is similar to majoring in STEM, however, raises questions regarding what underlies this socializing experience. The paper concludes by discussing the role of political typification in explaining this outcome.

Authors

• Milos Brocic, University of Toronto

• Andrew Miles, University of Toronto