The Political Socialization of Attitudes Towards the Equality of Rights from a Comparative Perspective

The lack of tolerance towards traditionally disadvantaged groups, such as immigrants, ethnic minorities and women, represents a growing challenge to current democracies. Assuming that attitudes towards such social groups are at least partly learned during the political socialization of school-age children, this paper explores individual differences in equality of rights attitudes according to socioeconomic and demographic characteristics (gender and immigration background) in eighth grade students from 38 countries. The data come from the last International Civic and Citizenship Education Study (ICCS), 2009. Using structural equations and multilevel models, the analysis estimates regression models with a set of measures, with family status being the main independent variable. The results show that there are large differences across countries regarding the level of inclusive attitudes and that parental education and the number of books at home are relevant predictors of more inclusive attitudes of children in most of the countries analyzed, but the patterns differ by gender and immigrant groups. The positive association between resources and egalitarian attitudes shows significant differences for immigrant students and female students. The association is stronger in the case of girls and weaker in the case of immigrant students. Moreover, results show that those students who belong to disadvantaged groups (girls and immigrants) would show higher levels of egalitarian attitudes. On the one hand, girls demand higher levels of equality for the three evaluated target groups, while on the other, students with an immigrant background demand higher levels of equality particularly focused on immigrants and ethnic groups. It is relevant to remark that the support for tolerance by girls goes beyond a mere self-interest demand, as this is not only related to gender equality. The findings are discussed taking into account current and future political issues associated with migration and demands for equal rights.