SOME SOCIAL REQUISITES OF DEMOCRACY 79 ment per thousand total population at three different levels,primary,post- primary,and higher educational,is equally consistently related to the degree of democracy.The tremendous disparity is shown by the extreme cases of Haiti and the United States.Haiti has fewer children (11 per thousand)attending school in the primary grades than the United States has attending colleges (almost 18 per thousand). The relationship between education and democracy is worth more extensive treatment since an entire philosophy of democratic government has seen in increased education the spread of the basic requirement of democracy.15 As Bryce wrote with special reference to Latin America,"education,if it does not make men good citizens,makes it at least easier for them to become so."6 Education presumably broadens men's outlooks,enables them to understand the need for norms of tolerance,restrains them from adhering to extremist and monistic doctrines,and increases their capacity to make rational electoral choices. The evidence bearing on the contribution of education to democracy is even more direct and strong in connection with individual behavior within countries, than it is in cross-national correlations.Data gathered by public opinion re- search agencies which have questioned people in different countries with regard to their belief in various democratic norms of tolerance for opposition,to their attitudes toward ethnic or racial minorities,and with regard to their belief in multi-party as against one-party systems have found that the most important single factor differentialing those giving democratic responses from others has been education.The higher one's education,the more likely one is to believe in demo- cratic values and support democratic practices.17 All the relevant studies indi- cate that education is far more significant than income or occupation. These findings should lead us to anticipate a far higher correlation between national levels of education and political practice than in fact we do find. Germany and France have been among the best educated nations of Europe, but this by itself clearly did not stabilize their democracies.It may be,how- ever,that education has served to inhibit other anti-democratic forces.Post- Nazi data from Germany indicate clearly that higher education is linked to rejection of strong-man and one-party government.18 15 See John Dewey,Democracy and Education (New York,1916). 16 Quoted in Arthur P.Whitaker,op.cit.,p.112;see also Karl Mannheim,Freedom, Power and Democratic Planning (New York,1950). 17 See C.H.Smith,"Liberalism and Level of Information,"Journal of Educational Psychology,Vol.39(1948),pp.65-82;Martin A.Trow,Right Wing Radicalism and Politi- cal Intolerance,Ph.D.dissertation,Columbia University,1957,p.17;Samuel Stouffer, Communism,Conformity and Civil Liberties (New York,1955),pp.138-9;K.Kido and M.Suyi,"Report on Social Stratification and Mobility in Tokyo,...Mobility in Tokyo, III:The Structure of Social Consciousness,"Japanese Sociological Review (January 1954),pp.74-100. 18 Dewey has suggested that the character of the educational system will infuence its effect on democracy,and this may shed some light on the sources of instability in Ger- many.The purpose of German education,according to Dewey,writing in 1916,was "disciplinary training rather than...personal development."The main aim was to pro- This content downloaded from 202.120.14.67 on Sun,19 Feb 2017 15:39:15 UTC All use subject to http://about.jstor.org/terms
SOME SOCIAL REQUISITES OF DEMOCRACY 79 ment per thousand total population at three different levels, primary, post- primary, and higher educational, is equally consistently related to the degree of democracy. The tremendous disparity is shown by the extreme cases of Haiti and the United States. Haiti has fewer children (11 per thousand) attending school in the primary grades than the United States has attending colleges (almost 18 per thousand). The relationship between education and democracy is worth more extensive treatment since an entire philosophy of democratic government has seen in increased education the spread of the basic requirement of democracy.'6 As Bryce wrote with special reference to Latin America, "education, if it does not make men good citizens, makes it at least easier for them to become so."'6 Education presumably broadens men's outlooks, enables them to understand the need for norms of tolerance, restrains them from adhering to extremist and monistic doctrines, and increases their capacity to make rational electoral choices. The evidence bearing on the contribution of education to democracy is even more direct and strong in connection with individual behavior within countries, than it is in cross-national correlations. Data gathered by public opinion re- search agencies which have questioned people in different countries with regard to their belief in various democratic norms of tolerance for opposition, to their attitudes toward ethnic or racial minorities, and with regard to their belief in multi-party as against one-party systems have found that the most important single factor differentiating those giving democratic responses from others has been education. The higher one's education, the more likely one is to believe in demo- cratic values and support democratic practices.'7 All the relevant studies indi- cate that education is far more significant than income or occupation. These findings should lead us to anticipate a far higher correlation between national levels of education and political practice than in fact we do find. Germany and France have been among the best educated nations of Europe, but this by itself clearly did not stabilize their democracies. It may be, how- ever, that education has served to inhibit other anti-democratic forces. Post- Nazi data from Germany indicate clearly that higher education is linked to rejection of strong-man and one-party government.'8 16 See John Dewey, Democracy and Education (New York, 1916). 16 Quoted in Arthur P. Whitaker, op. cit., p. 112; see also Karl Mannheim, Freedom, Power and Democratic Planning (New York, 1950). 17 See C. H. Smith, "Liberalism and Level of Information," Journal of Educational Psychology, Vol. 39 (1948), pp. 65-82; Martin A. Trow, Right Wing Radicalism and Politi- cal Intolerance, Ph.D. dissertation, Columbia University, 1957, p. 17; Samuel Stouffer, Communism, Conformity and Civil Liberties (New York, 1955), pp. 138-9; K. Kido and M. Suyi, "Report on Social Stratification and Mobility in Tokyo, . . . Mobility in Tokyo, III: The Structure of Social Consciousness," Japanese Sociological Review (January 1954), pp. 74-100. 18 Dewey has suggested that the character of the educational system will influence its effect on democracy, and this may shed some light on the sources of instability in Ger- many. The purpose of German education, according to Dewey, writing in 1916, was "disciplinary training rather than . . . personal development." The main aim was to proThis content downloaded from 202.120.14.67 on Sun, 19 Feb 2017 15:39:15 UTC All use subject to http://about.jstor.org/terms
80 THE AMERICAN POLITICAL SCIENCE REVIEW If we cannot say that a "high"level of education is a sufficient condition for democracy,the available evidence does suggest that it comes close to being a necessary condition in the modern world.Thus if we turn to Latin America, where widespread illiteracy still exists in many countries,we find that of all the nations in which more than half the population is illiterate,only one,Brazil, can be included in the "more democratic"'group. There is some evidence from other economically impoverished culture areas that literacy is related to democracy.The one member of the Arab League which has maintained democratic institutions since World War II,Lebanon,is by far the best educated (over 80 per cent literacy)of the Arab countries.In the rest of Asia east of the Arab world,only two states,the Philippines and Japan,have maintained democratic regimes without the presence of large anti- democratic parties since 1945.And these two countries,although lower than any European state in per capita income,are among the world's leaders in edu- cational attainment.The Philippines actually ranks second to the United States in its proportion of people attending high school and university,while Japan has a higher level of educational attainment than any European state.19 Although the various indices have been presented separately,it seems clear that the factors of industrialization,urbanization,wealth,and education,are so closely interrelated as to form one common factor.20 And the factors sub- sumed under economic development carry with it the political correlate of democracy.21 Before moving to a discussion of the inner connections between the develop- ment complex and democracy,mention may be made of a study of the Middle East,which,in its essential conclusions,substantiates these empirical relation- ships for another culture area.A survey of six Middle Eastern countries duce"absorption of the aims and meaning of existing institutions,"and"thoroughgoing subordination"to them.This point raises issues which cannot be entered into here,but indicates the complex character of the relationship between democracy and closely related factors,such as education.See Dewey,Democracy and Education,op.cit.,pp.108-110.It suggests caution,too,in drawing optimistic inferences about the prospects of democratic developments in Russia,based on the great expansion of education now taking place there. 1 Ceylon,which shares with the Philippines and Japan the distinction of being the only democratic countries in South and Far Asia in which the Communists are unim- portant electorally,also shares with them the distinction of being the only countries in this area in which a majority of the population is literate.It should be noted,however, that Ceylon does have a fairly large Trotskyist party,now the official opposition;and while its educational level is high for Asia,it is much lower than either Japan or the Philippines. 20 A factor analysis carried out by Leo Schnore,based on data from 75 countries,dem- onstrates this.(To be published). a This statement is a"statistical"statement,which necessarily means that there will be many exceptions to the correlation.Thus we know that poorer people are more likely to vote for the Democratic or Labor parties in the U.S.and England.The fact that a large minority of the lower strata vote for the more conservative party in these countries does not challenge the proposition that stratification position is the main determinant of party choice,given the multivariate causal process involved in the behavior of people or na- tions.Clearly social science will never be able to account for (predict)all behavior. This content downloaded from 202.120.14.67 on Sun,19 Feb 2017 15:39:15 UTC All use subject to http://about.jstor.org/terms
80 THE AMERICAN POLITICAL SCIENCE REVIEW If we cannot say that a "high" level of education is a sufficient condition for democracy, the available evidence does suggest that it comes close to being a necessary condition in the modern world. Thus if we turn to Latin America, where widespread illiteracy still exists in many countries, we find that of all the nations in which more than half the population is illiterate, only one, Brazil, can be included in the "more democratic" group. There is some evidence from other economically impoverished culture areas that literacy is related to democracy. The one member of the Arab League which has maintained democratic institutions since World War II, Lebanon, is by far the best educated (over 80 per cent literacy) of the Arab countries. In the rest of Asia east of the Arab world, only two states, the Philippines and Japan, have maintained democratic regimes without the presence of large anti- democratic parties since 1945. And these two countries, although lower than any European state in per capita income, are among the world's leaders in edu- cational attainment. The Philippines actually ranks second to the United States in its proportion of people attending high school and university, while Japan has a higher level of educational attainment than any European state."9 Although the various indices have been presented separately, it seems clear that the factors of industrialization, urbanization, wealth, and education, are so closely interrelated as to form one common factor.20 And the factors sub- sumed under economic development carry with it the political correlate of democracy.2' Before moving to a discussion of the inner connections between the develop- ment complex and democracy, mention may be made of a study of the Middle East, which, in its essential conclusions, substantiates these empirical relation- ships for another culture area. A survey of six Middle Eastern countries duce "absorption of the aims and meaning of existing institutions," and "thoroughgoing subordination" to them. This point raises issues which cannot be entered into here, but indicates the complex character of the relationship between democracy and closely related factors, such as education. See Dewey, Democracy and Education, op. cit., pp. 108-110. It suggests caution, too, in drawing optimistic inferences about the prospects of democratic developments in Russia, based on the great expansion of education now taking place there. 1' Ceylon, which shares with the Philippines and Japan the distinction of being the only democratic countries in South and Far Asia in which the Communists are unim- portant electorally, also shares with them the distinction of being the only countries in this area in which a majority of the population is literate. It should be noted, however, that Ceylon does have a fairly large Trotskyist party, now the official opposition; and while its educational level is high for Asia, it is much lower than either Japan or the Philippines. 20 A factor analysis carried out by Leo Schnore, based on data from 75 countries, dem- onstrates this. (To be published). 21 This statement is a "statistical" statement, which necessarily means that there will be many exceptions to the correlation. Thus we know that poorer people are more likely to vote for the Democratic or Labor parties in the U. S. and England. The fact that a large minority of the lower strata vote for the more conservative party in these countries does not challenge the proposition that stratification position is the main determinant of party choice, given the multivariate causal process involved in the behavior of people or na- tions. Clearly social science will never be able to account for (predict) all behavior. This content downloaded from 202.120.14.67 on Sun, 19 Feb 2017 15:39:15 UTC All use subject to http://about.jstor.org/terms
SOME SOCIAL REQUISITES OF DEMOCRACY 81 (Turkey,Lebanon,Egypt,Syria,Jordan,and Iran),conducted by the Colum- bia University Bureau of Applied Social Research in 1950-51,found high associ- ations between urbanization,literacy,voting rates,media consumption and production,and education.22 Simple and multiple correlations between the four basic variables were computed for all countries for which United Nations statistics were available,in this case 54.The multiple correlations,regarding each as the dependent variable in turn,are as follows:23 Multiple correlation Dependent Variable Coefficient Urbanization .61 Literacy .91 Media Participation .84 Political Participation .82 In the middle East,Turkey and Lebanon score higher on most of these indices than do the other four countries analyzed,and Lerner points out that the "great post-war events in Egypt,Syria,Jordan and Iran have been the violent struggles for the control of power-struggles notably absent in Turkey and Lebanon,where the control of power has been decided by elections."24 One of Lerner's contributions is to point to the consequences,for overall stability,of disproportionate development in one direction or another,and the need for coordinated changes in all of these variables.Thus,he compares ur- banization and literacy in Egypt and Turkey,and concludes that although Egypt is far more urbanized than Turkey,it is not really "modernized,"and does not even have an adequate base for modernization,because literacy has not kept abreast.In Turkey,all of the several indices of modernization have kept pace with each other,with rising voting participation(36 per cent in 1950), rising literacy,urbanization,etc.In Egypt,by contrast,the cities are full of "homeless illiterates,"who provide a ready audience for political mobilization in support of extremist ideologies.On Lerner's scale,following the assumption of the functional interdependence of "modernization"factors,Egypt should be twice as literate as Turkey,since it is twice as urbanized.The fact that it is only half as literate explains,for Lerner,the "imbalances"which "tend to The study is reported in Daniel Lerner,The Passing of Traditional Society,(Glencoe: The Free Press,1958).These correlations are derived from census data;the main sections of the survey dealt with reactions to and opinions about the mass media,with inferences as to the personality types appropriate to modern and to traditional society. 2 Ibid.,p.63.The index of political participation was the per cent voting in the last five elections.These results cannot be considered as independent verification of the rela- tionships presented in this paper,since the data and variables are basically the same (as they are also in the work by Lyle Shannon,op.cit.),but the identical results using three entirely different methods,the phi coefficient,multiple correlations,and means and ranges, show decisively that the relationships cannot be attributed to artifacts of the computa- tions.It should also be noted that the three analyses were made without knowledge of each other. 4Ibid,pp.84-85. This content downloaded from 202.120.14.67 on Sun,19 Feb 2017 15:39:15 UTC All use subject to http://about.jstor.org/terms
SOME SOCIAL REQUISITES OF DEMOCRACY 81 (Turkey, Lebanon, Egypt, Syria, Jordan, and Iran), conducted by the Colum- bia University Bureau of Applied Social Research in 1950-51, found high associ- ations between urbanization, literacy, voting rates, media consumption and production, and education.22 Simple and multiple correlations between the four basic variables were computed for all countries for which United Nations statistics were available, in this case 54. The multiple correlations, regarding each as the dependent variable in turn, are as follows:23 Multiple correlation Dependent Variable Coefficient Urbanization .61 Literacy .91 Media Participation .84 Political Participation .82 In the middle East, Turkey and Lebanon score higher on most of these indices than do the other four countries analyzed, and Lerner points out that the "great post-war events in Egypt, Syria, Jordan and Iran have been the violent struggles for the control of power-struggles notably absent in Turkey and Lebanon, where the control of power has been decided by elections."24 One of Lerner's contributions is to point to the consequences, for overall stability, of disproportionate development in one direction or another, and the need for coordinated changes in all of these variables. Thus, he compares ur- banization and literacy in Egypt and Turkey, and concludes that although Egypt is far more urbanized than Turkey, it is not really "modernized," and does not even have an adequate base for modernization, because literacy has not kept abreast. In Turkey, all of the several indices of modernization have kept pace with each other, with rising voting participation (36 per cent in 1950), rising literacy, urbanization, etc. In Egypt, by contrast, the cities are full of "homeless illiterates," who provide a ready audience for political mobilization in support of extremist ideologies. On Lerner's scale, following the assumption of the functional interdependence of "modernization" factors, Egypt should be twice as literate as Turkey, since it is twice as urbanized. The fact that it is only half as literate explains, for Lerner, the "imbalances" which "tend to 22 The study is reported in Daniel Lerner, The Passing of Traditional Society, (Glencoe: The Free Press, 1958). These correlations are derived from census data; the main sections of the survey dealt with reactions to and opinions about the mass media, with inferences as to the personality types appropriate to modern and to traditional society. 23 Ibid., p. 63. The index of political participation was the per cent voting in the last five elections. These results cannot be considered as independent verification of the rela- tionships presented in this paper, since the data and variables are basically the same (as they are also in the work by Lyle Shannon, op. cit.), but the identical results using three entirely different methods, the phi coefficient, multiple correlations, and means and ranges, show decisively that the relationships cannot be attributed to artifacts of the computa- tions. It should also be noted that the three analyses were made without knowledge of each other. 24 Ibid., pp. 84-85. This content downloaded from 202.120.14.67 on Sun, 19 Feb 2017 15:39:15 UTC All use subject to http://about.jstor.org/terms