Researchers
Abstract:
This programme of research will explore of the structure and production of contemporary social attitudes. Its primary focus is the link between attitudes, education and social class in the context of social and political change. In the political sphere the change of focus in party competition from economic issues which have traditionally been labelled ‘left-right’ to those more closely associated with the ‘social’ sphere and which have been labelled ‘liberal-authoritarian’ is likely to have important consequences for social attitudes in Britain. This ‘social’ or ‘liberal’ dimension of attitudes is closely linked to education. Thus, changes in participation in higher education may also be expected to have far-reaching effects on social values.
The ‘liberal’ dimension is distinct from the economically defined ‘left-right’ and includes issues such as attitudes to the death penalty, homosexuality and censorship. Until relatively recently this ‘liberal-authoritarian’ dimension was seen as less important in British politics than the traditional ‘left-right’ dimension which was a stronger predictor of party preferences and voting behaviour. However, recent political debates in Britain have increasingly been conducted on terrain which could be categorised as falling within the ‘liberal-authoritarian’ sphere (for example attitudes to immigration, to identity cards, to anti-terror measures), whilst the traditional features of the ‘left-right’ debate (public ownership, redistribution) no longer help to distinguish the main political parties.
As values related to non-economic issues are closely related to education, the rapid increase in participation in higher education may have an important role to play in the way in which these attitudes are represented within British society. If education produces greater tolerance, then can we expect increases in educational participation to lead to greater tolerance? Traditionally, it has been social class which has had the greater impact on ‘left-right’ attitudes in Britain. However, class fractions, possibly defined by education, exist within the middle class which help to produce groups with distinctive social values that do not sit comfortably within the traditional model of ‘left’ and ‘right’. The values of these groups suggest that there are complex interactions in play between class position and education in the constitution of social values.
In investigating these issues the project will
- document changes in the structure of social attitudes, particularly those attitudes which fall outside of the traditional ‘left-right’ framework of British political discourse;
- investigate the relationship between education and social attitudes in the context of increasing participation in post-compulsory education;
- investigate the mechanisms which underlay the relationship between education and social attitudes;
- investigate the relationship between attitudes and political preferences, especially the extent to which attitudes act as a mediator between social location and political partisanship;
- consider if there has been a change in the way in which attitudes relate to political preferences in the context of a changing political discourse in Britain; and
- utilise complex data sources and apply advanced modelling techniques as appropriate for the above, including factor analysis, correspondence analysis, log linear analysis, multi-level modelling, structural equation modelling.
Department:
Department of Sociology, University of Bristol
Duration:
February 2006 – January 2008
Grant Type:
Research Fellowship
Publications
Presentations
Surridge, P. (2006) The making of social values: social attitudes and social change, Presentation at UPTAP Inaugural Conference, Leeds, 31 March.
