Does political orientation affect the choice of a university major?

Denzler, Stefan; Wolter, Stefan (2018). Does political orientation affect the choice of a university major? Studies in higher education, 43(11), pp. 1868-1881. Taylor & Francis 10.1080/03075079.2017.1285878

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Using data from a survey of all high-school graduates in a Swiss canton, we analyze the relationship between students’ political orientation and their choice of a university major. Analyzing this question in the context of the Swiss higher education system adds to the existing literature because unlike students in other countries, Swiss students are completely free to choose their place of study and their major. The selection of a university major is therefore not affected by university admission rules and policies. We find that students in different university majors differ systematically with regard to their political orientation. However, when controlling for socio-demographic factors, school-related aspects and personality, the association between political orientation and educational choice becomes small and mostly statistically non-significant. We can conclude from this that political orientation is not influencing the choice of university major in a causal way.

Item Type:	Journal Article (Original Article)
Division/Institute:	03 Faculty of Business, Economics and Social Sciences > Department of Economics 03 Faculty of Business, Economics and Social Sciences > Department of Economics > Institute of Economics
UniBE Contributor:	Wolter, Stefan Cornelis
Subjects:	300 Social sciences, sociology & anthropology > 330 Economics
ISSN:	0307-5079
Publisher:	Taylor & Francis
Language:	English
Submitter:	Dino Collalti
Date Deposited:	07 Oct 2019 09:31
Last Modified:	02 Mar 2023 23:32
Publisher DOI:	10.1080/03075079.2017.1285878
URI:	https://boris.unibe.ch/id/eprint/129860