The relationship between education and political knowledge: evidence from discordant Danish twins

Aaron Weinschenk*, Chris Dawes, Stig Hebbelstrup Rye Rasmussen, Robert Klemmensen

*Corresponding author af dette arbejde

Publikation: Bidrag til tidsskrift/Konferencebidrag i tidsskrift /Bidrag til avisTidsskriftartikelForskningpeer review

3 Citationer (Scopus)

Abstract

Many studies have shown that there is a positive relationship between education and political knowledge. However, some scholars have recently challenged this idea, arguing that the positive correlation between education and knowledge may disappear once confounding variables are considered. In this paper, we replicate a recent study that used the discordant twin design to examine the association between education and political knowledge. More specifically, we analyze the relationship between education and political knowledge within monozygotic (MZ) twin pairs, which enables us to bypass sources of confounding of the relationship (i.e. genes and socialization) because MZ twins reared together share both. Using data from a 2019 survey of twins from the Danish Twin Registry, we find that, consistent with earlier work, after accounting for familial factors, the relationship between education on political knowledge is small and not statistically significant.
OriginalsprogEngelsk
TidsskriftJournal of Elections, Public Opinion, and Parties
Vol/bind33
Nummer1
Sider (fra-til)105-117
Antal sider13
ISSN1745-7289
DOI
StatusUdgivet - 2023

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