How the Levels of Education Influence Political Class in the Society

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Background to the Study

Education in every sector contributes to people’s social and economical welfare and at the same time contributes immensely towards political growth of every country. Participation in the political arena over the past has been engineered by the level of education the people have or aspire to attain. Political office holders and those aspiring tend to be of high socioeconomic status hence furthering the impact of class of every country’s politics especially in America. The wealthy and well educated individuals in every society are more likely to participate in political affairs of the country, for example, voting during political elections or fund political parties in the country unlike the less educated. In many cases, those who vote as members of social class can be said to be participating in an identity politics. Educational attainment is an indicator of social class that can predict one’s level of participation in political issues in the country. Those with higher educational level are more likely to vote or vie in political elections unlike their counterparts with low level of education.

Research Question

This study is guided by the following research question:

How does one’s level of education influence his/her political class?

Importance of this Study Question

Social class influences people’s level of political participation and political maturity in every country. Those with higher education are more likely to attend public forums where political decisions are made or legislative matters are discussed. These are the major financiers of political parties in the country and they actively participate in the voting process during the general or political elections in the country. The opinion and ideas of the literate in the society will be mostly taken in and respected in any political forums and they usually receive overwhelming support from their supporters during political rallies. These educated elites can sell their policies to the electorates and diffused their intended messages to the audience in any forums unlike the less educated in the society.

Related Theories and Literatures

Well educated and rich citizens are more likely to vote and donate funds to politicians than the lower class individuals with low education background. The trend implies that the middle and upper class or the well offs in a society as some may call them have a greater political participation and aspirations than the less educated in the society. This makes the elites have more political power and contribution than the less educated. Most of the political positions are occupied by the society elites while the illiterates are left to be watchers of the political game plan. In many circumstances, education goes hand in hand with status in the society. The elites are perceived to be of higher status and of better pedigree than the illiterates and therefore are more likely to hold political position than the illiterates in that societal setup.

A case study to show how the level of education influences political class can be illustrated using the presidential elections in America between John Kerry and George W. Bush in 2004. Both the presidential aspirants had accumulated millions of dollars to fund their campaigns, and they had a higher degree the most prestigious universities in the world the Yale and Harvard respectively. In that election, those who voted as members of social class can be said to be participating in an identity political class. Identity politics is a phenomenal that arose during the margins of the liberal democratic society where human rights are highly upheld and regarded in the status. Some individuals tend to perceive class as political maturity in a society. Their argument is that they should vote class of individual into political seats. The win for George W. Bush was viewed as tainted towards the electoral college which has the final say on who wins the elections. In American, for example, a candidate may win the majority votes which includes the votes for the commoners (illiterates) and the privilege in the society, but may not decide the winner of the presidential election. In this case the electoral colleges that bring on board the well educated in the society are left to decide the president of America through their votes. This shows how education and wealth influence the political scene of every nation.

Some of these social classes are intentional while others are natural. There are some people who strive to be identified by a given social class in the society while others find themselves in those classes without their knowledge or control. For example, there are those in the lower class because they cannot afford the better life, therefore, alienating them from the upper class in society. The people with lower level of education in society are always feels alienated from making political contribution in the country. Some of the illiterates’ individuals more often the fourths are being exploited by the politicians without their knowledge or out of mere ignorance and poverty in the society. Majority of the less educated in the society in many instances have been following the political elites blindly and always feel aggrieved when the elites cannot meet their expectation.

However, it should be noted that the elites always have higher regards for education and them say that there is a thin line between education and wealth that consequently leads to political power and empowerment of the society. Since politicians’ deals with matters of legislation and implementations of the laws, the elites stand a better chance in defining the socioeconomic lifestyle in the society. If every member of the society could determine how the life of education influence the political class in the society then every member would be striving for better education so that they can contribute effectively to the political matters in their respective countries. Education enhances moral judgments in decision making by politicians and hence, enable the lawmakers to come up with sound policies which can be implemented to improve the living standards of the whole society at large. Countries with good education background for her citizens always tend to have good political policies and maturation and this reduces societal imbalances which are more witness in the developing countries.

Research Methodology

Study Design

For this particular study, a prospective Cohort study would show to the most beneficial in order to study the influence of education on ones’ political class. This is a significant approach that will provide a comprehensive analysis into the statistically significant difference in the political class and stratification and the relationship to their education standards. This study design the assessment will start with the acknowledged cause of the final case, which is a political class, and significant observations are expected to be made with regard to the occurrence of political class relative to the hypothesized level of education and academic achievements. Continual contact with individuals would help facilitate more detailed and accurate information pertaining to the social classification.

Population of the StudyThis study will target different social and political classes that exist in the society. The desired population of the research will particularly include top political class and people of different stratifications. Education wise, the study population will include those persons of different education standards and achievements from high school to university graduates. The target group will be American politicians.

Sampling Technique

This proposed study will employ purposive sampling technique where samples will be drawn from the desired population of the study in order to provide the researcher with the relevant information concerning political classification and the educational levels in the U.S. This method is preferred because it not biased and gives equal probability to all the respondents to be included in the sample. Sample SizeUsing the statistical concept of n>0.3N, the study proposes to include a sample of 10 politicians drawn from the top social class. These respondents from these selected academic and political institutions will be randomly selected, making a total of 100 participants drawn from the learning institutions and political class.

Data Collection Methods

This study will rely on both primary and secondary data. Secondary data that entail already made available information pertaining to the subject of the study will be collected from secondary journals, books, company websites, internet, newspapers, among other secondary data sources that are perceived reliable and credible. Primary data, on the other hand, will be collected through questionnaires and interview schedules. This method of data collection is preferred over the rest since it aids in the provision of primary data that are more effective and reliable for the study.

Data Analysis

Since this study is qualitative and quantitative, inferential and descriptive statistics will be used to analyze the collective data. Qualitative data collected in the study will specifically be analyzed using grounded theory methods. Open coding will be used to categorize and name the data, while selective coding will be used to develop a more generalized framework to the study (Schneider, & Northcraft, 1999, 1442). Quantitative data, on the other hand, will be analyzed using SPSS (Statistical Package for Social Sciences) version 21 (Pitts, et al. 2010, 118). The relationship will be presented using regression, correlation, and measures of central tendency. Besides, the data collected through questionnaires will be classified on the basis of common attributes and then tallied to obtain statistical frequencies. The data will be presented using tables, graphs, and chats. The research hypotheses will be tested using a regression model between the dependent and independent variable and also using t-statistics to determine the acceptance or rejection rule.

Limitation of the Study

This research is a descriptive study of how differences in the level of education influence differences in the political classes and stratifications in the society. The major limitation of the study is resources and time. In this study, only a limited number of respondents will be included in the study given the high costs of carrying out comprehensive study. The other limitation of this research is insufficient time to comprehensively explore the relationship between the level of education and political identity.