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The education gap in participation and its political consequences

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Abstract

Although research on political participation has consistently observed a robust and positive relationship between education and political participation, there is fairly little systematic analysis of its implications for the functioning of modern democracies. This article first explores the degree to which educational differences matter in the extent and form of political participation in the Netherlands. It turns out that the well educated currently comprise less than a third of the population, yet they dominate every political venue in the Netherlands. The less educated, on the other hand, have virtually disappeared from most layers of the participation pyramid. Second, the article explores the political consequences of this education gap in participation. There is no such thing in the Netherlands as a general cleft between citizens and politicians. The major gap is one between less- and well- educated citizens. The less educated tend to be very distrustful and cynical about politics and politicians, whereas the well educated tend to be much more positive about government and political institutions. The education gap has been most manifest with regard to socio-cultural issues, such as crime, the admittance of asylum seekers, cultural integration of immigrants and EU unification. Regarding these issues, differences in the level of formal educational will lead to very divergent political opinions. However, the recent emergence of eurosceptic and nationalist parties, with a populist style, such as the LPF, SP and PVV, have made the less educated more visible in the political landscape.

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Notes

  1. Compare, among others, Verba and Nie (1972, pp. 95–101), Verba et al (1978), Rosenstone and Hansen (1993), Verba et al (1995, p. 433), Nie et al (1996), Lijphart (1997, pp. 2–3), Putnam (2000), Gesthuizen (2005), APSA (2006, p. 1).

  2. Following the standard classification of the Dutch Central Bureau of Statistics (CBS).

  3. However, the CBS has limited itself to the workforce (the 15–64 year olds who are not enrolled). The overall percentage of the less educated among the citizens will be higher, as the elderly citizens (65 and older) will have fewer educational qualifications.

  4. However, we have to be careful here, because inclination may not equal action. This measure of voting turnout relies on the accuracy of the reports supplied by survey respondents. Days, weeks or even years after the election they were asked whether they had voted. Verbal self-reporting, to be sure, is not a totally reliable way of capturing actual behaviour. Non-voters may be too embarrassed to admit their failure to vote (Lewis-Beck et al, 2008, p. 86); and, in the United States, the well educated are most likely to over-report voting (Silver et al, 1986). Self-reported turnout rates in NKO/DES surveys also overestimate actual turnout (Schmeets, 2007). Actual turnout at the 2006 elections was 80.1 per cent, whereas 93.1 per cent of the NKO respondents indicated that they had voted in the 2006 elections.

  5. Compare similar studies of participation and political equality in Europe: ‘the widest gulf between activists and non-participants are in terms of educational attainment’ (Teorell et al, 2007, p. 410). Recent research by Li and Marsh (2008) in the United Kingdom shows that educational differences have a far more pronounced effect than other variables, and the latest studies performed under auspices of the OECD in Austria (2007) and Norway (2007) show that education's impact on civic engagement is strong.

  6. Compare the survey 21minuten.nl 2006 (www.21minuten.nl), pp. 28–29.

  7. Standard Eurobarometer 66/Autumn 2006; First Results, pp. 6–16.

  8. These data derive from the exit polls on website of Maurice de Hond (www.peil.nl; accessed 7 July 2005). The DES/NKO 2006 data on the EU referendum (N=1637) show similar, but less extreme differences. Of the well-educated respondents in the DES/NKO 2006, 47 per cent reported to have voted against, compared to 62 per cent of the least educated.

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Acknowledgements

The research for this article was financed by a grant from the Dutch Council for Scientific Research (NWO) Contested Democracy programme. Earlier versions have been presented at the NKWP-etmaal in Nijmegen, 29–30 May 2008, at the Economics & Democracy RSSS Annual Conference at the Australian National University in Canberra, 8–10 December 2008, and at the Annual Conference of the Netherlands Institute of Government in Leiden, 12–13 November 2009. We would like to thank Tim Besley, Inge Claringbould, Paul Dekker, Robert Goodin, Markus Haverland, Tom van der Meer, Albert Meijer, Folke Tersman and the two referees of this journal for their constructive comments.

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  1. School of Governance, Utrecht University, Bijlhouwerstraat 6, Utrecht, 3511 ZC, the Netherlands

    Mark Bovens & Anchrit Wille

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Bovens, M., Wille, A. The education gap in participation and its political consequences. Acta Polit 45, 393–422 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1057/ap.2010.7

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