Ideas at Work: Educated Colleagues Shape Political Attitudes

Abstract

Workplaces are increasingly sorted by education. How does the educational composition at the workplace shape political attitudes? To address this question, I use Swedish population-wide administrative data combined with a representative election survey – an empirical approach that links respondents to their colleagues. The central finding is that the share of university educated at the workplace influences individuals’ attitudes independently of the individual’s own educational background. Further analysis indicates that the effect is partly caused during the time spent in the labor market and varies with the educational field composition of the workplace. The results shed light on how social connections at work, as opposed to personal experiences, shape political attitudes. This has far-reaching implications for our understanding of the politically relevant aspects of the work life, as well as for the formation of the education divide.