Publication type
Journal Article
Series Number
Authors
Publication date
June 22, 2025
Summary:
People with higher education hold more positive attitudes towards immigrants than those without. Previous studies have attempted to net out selection mechanisms to examine whether there is a causal effect of higher education on attitudes towards immigrants. However, parental higher education has been largely neglected as a likely source of this selection. Using UKHLS data on individuals and their parents for the UK and employing the khb decomposition model, we examine if and why parental education influences attitudes towards immigrants. First, we show that, net of individual educational attainment, individuals whose parents have a university degree are more likely to have more positive attitudes towards immigrants. More highly educated people have more positive attitudes, but parental education reinforces this association or compensates for low educational attainment. Second, we illustrate that the relationship between parental higher education and attitudes towards immigrants is mediated by two mechanisms: parental socialisation and individual education. In contrast, socio-economic positioning while growing up makes a negligible contribution. Our findings suggest that formative years are crucial for the development of attitudes towards immigrants later in life and that educational inequalities of today affect the attitudes towards immigrants of tomorrow.
Published in
British Journal of Sociology
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1111/1468-4446.70005
ISSN
00071315
Subjects
Notes
Online Early
Open Access
© 2025 The Author(s). The British Journal of Sociology published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd on behalf of London School of Economics and Political Science.
This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
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