Previous empirical research on the effect of education has reported as one of its most solid findings the relationship between educational attainment and an embracement of pro-democratic attitudes. Despite these robust findings, most studies have not sought to explain variances of the educational effect across countries or have not tested them systematically. Firstly, the article tests whether the strength of the educational effect on pro-democratic attitudes varies cross-nationally. Secondly, it investigates how the educational effect, where found, is exerted. The cognitive-psychological theory argues that education develops one’s cognitive competence and cognitive sophistication into a better understanding that the principles of equality apply to all. The ideological refinement model maintains that the tolerance of the better educated is in fact a sophisticated tool, or ideology, to legitimize and maintain the status quo of their economic class. According to the socialization theory the difference in liberal attitudes is mediated by the transmission of the official norms and values of society throughout the educational system. However, these explanations have been only partially tested. The article unravels the connective mechanisms of the educational process and attitudinal characteristics of democratic citizenship by testing the three possible theories. Within a two-level hierarchical linear modelling framework, the study employs data from the World Value Survey (WVS) at an individual level and the political and socio-economic characteristics of countries at the macro-level. Results suggest that while the effect of cognitive development and socialization play a role, class self-interest has no major influence.
