Educational Differentiation and Inequalities of Civic Engagement

Abstract

Although the literature on political socialisation is vast, there are only a few studies examining the role of education in mitigating or exacerbating inequalities of civic engagement. This is a surprising omission as there is growing acknowledgement that disparities of participation and democratic values are at least as harmful for democracy as low aggregate levels of such behaviours and attitudes. Democracy cannot adequately serve the needs and interests of all groups in society if there are major differences in participation and civic attitudes across ethnic and social groups. In such situations, policymakers will tend to accommodate the desires of the politically engaged — usually the affluent and welleducated sections of society — and ignore the interests of the politically invisible — as a rule the low-income groups and non-native population (Bartels, 2008; Levinson, 2010). Consequently, the latter may feel that democracy only serves the rich and powerful and develop distinct antidemocratic preferences. This is in turn likely to pose a serious threat to the social cohesion of Western democratic societies.