From sentto-2242572-60402-1038998187-jm=jmason.org@returns.groups.yahoo.com Wed Dec 4 11:58:13 2002 Return-Path: Delivered-To: yyyy@localhost.spamassassin.taint.org Received: from localhost (jalapeno [127.0.0.1]) by jmason.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id D7B9116F70 for ; Wed, 4 Dec 2002 11:56:40 +0000 (GMT) Received: from jalapeno [127.0.0.1] by localhost with IMAP (fetchmail-5.9.0) for jm@localhost (single-drop); Wed, 04 Dec 2002 11:56:40 +0000 (GMT) Received: from n34.grp.scd.yahoo.com (n34.grp.scd.yahoo.com [66.218.66.102]) by dogma.slashnull.org (8.11.6/8.11.6) with SMTP id gB4AYv810187 for ; Wed, 4 Dec 2002 10:34:57 GMT X-Egroups-Return: sentto-2242572-60402-1038998187-yyyy=spamassassin.taint.org@returns.groups.yahoo.com Received: from [66.218.66.96] by n34.grp.scd.yahoo.com with NNFMP; 04 Dec 2002 10:36:27 -0000 X-Sender: martin@srv0.ems.ed.ac.uk X-Apparently-To: zzzzteana@yahoogroups.com Received: (EGP: mail-8_2_3_0); 4 Dec 2002 10:36:27 -0000 Received: (qmail 16094 invoked from network); 4 Dec 2002 10:36:27 -0000 Received: from unknown (66.218.66.216) by m13.grp.scd.yahoo.com with QMQP; 4 Dec 2002 10:36:27 -0000 Received: from unknown (HELO haymarket.ed.ac.uk) (129.215.128.53) by mta1.grp.scd.yahoo.com with SMTP; 4 Dec 2002 10:36:26 -0000 Received: from srv0.ems.ed.ac.uk (srv0.ems.ed.ac.uk [129.215.117.0]) by haymarket.ed.ac.uk (8.12.6/8.12.6) with ESMTP id gB4AaPEq026894 for ; Wed, 4 Dec 2002 10:36:25 GMT Received: from EMS-SRV0/SpoolDir by srv0.ems.ed.ac.uk (Mercury 1.44); 4 Dec 02 10:36:25 +0000 Received: from SpoolDir by EMS-SRV0 (Mercury 1.44); 4 Dec 02 10:36:22 +0000 Organization: Management School To: zzzzteana@yahoogroups.com Message-Id: <3DEDDACB.21586.2E25950A@localhost> Priority: normal X-Mailer: Pegasus Mail for Windows (v4.01) Content-Description: Mail message body X-Edinburgh-Scanned: at haymarket.ed.ac.uk with MIMEDefang 2.25, Sophie 1.40rc1, Sophos Anti-Virus 3.63 X-Scanned-BY: MIMEDefang 2.25 (www . roaringpenguin . com / mimedefang) From: "Martin Adamson" MIME-Version: 1.0 Mailing-List: list zzzzteana@yahoogroups.com; contact forteana-owner@yahoogroups.com Delivered-To: mailing list zzzzteana@yahoogroups.com Precedence: bulk List-Unsubscribe: Date: Wed, 4 Dec 2002 10:36:17 -0000 Subject: [zzzzteana] University boom creates era of sexual tolerance Reply-To: zzzzteana@yahoogroups.com Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1 Content-Transfer-Encoding: 8bit X-MIME-Autoconverted: from quoted-printable to 8bit by dogma.slashnull.org id gB4AYv810187 The Times December 04, 2002 University boom creates era of sexual tolerance By Helen Rumbelow THE boom in university education has led to a sea change in Britain’s tolerance of homosexuality, according to a report. Just under half the people now believe that homosexuality is always or mostly wrong, down from three quarters 15 years ago, according to the British Social Attitudes survey, regarded as one of the best indicators of popular opinion. That trend is mirrored by the attitude towards ethnic minorities, with 75 per cent of people now saying they are not at all racially prejudiced, compared with 60 per cent in 1987. Geoffrey Evans, a politics professor at Oxford University, decided to focus on what has caused Britain to become more open-minded in a report published today. The study, from the National Centre for Social Research, is based on interviews with a cross-section of 3,500 people. Young people are much more tolerant than their elders, with a quarter of twentysomethings believing that homosexual sex is always wrong, compared with two thirds of pensioners. But the key to converting a bigot is to send him or her to college, with graduates twice as accepting of homosexuals as those with no GCSEs, and a third less racist. That transformation happened no matter what social class the student came from and, with 41 per cent of young people now attending university, it was a powerful social effect, Professor Evans said. “Mr Blair’s famous mantra ‘education, education, education’ seems far less consequential now than when first announced in 1997, as Britain struggles with an overburdened health service and the reality that as more and more people get degrees, degrees buy less and less,” he said. “But the growth of higher education can provide a bulwark against the undermining of liberal democracy through intolerance,” he added. He decided to see whether the tolerance conferred by schooling was just “political correctness” by testing how many civil rights the educated would give to an unattractive minority: white supremacists. Again, people scored higher the longer they had spent at school and university, with nearly two thirds of graduates saying that white supremacists should have the right to give television interviews or stand in elections, three times as many as those with no qualifications. It is not clear why those with higher education are more tolerant, the report says, adding that it may be simply because university students have increased contact with alternative points of view. Professor Evans also looked at whether the young may grow out of their idealism, but found the opposite to be true. Thirtysomethings were more than twice as likely to say there was nothing wrong with homosexuality as they were when they were in their early twenties. He said that as these groups of more educated young people replaced the older generation, Britain would become an ever more relaxed place. Soft drugs have also grown in widespread acceptability, with more than half the country wanting cannabis to be legalised, compared with a third seven years ago. That is probably because the use of cannabis is now so widespread, with a quarter of those surveyed saying that they had tried it. A third of Labour voters, twice as many as Conservatives, had tried the drug, and being young, living in London and having a degree also increased the chances. One issue that bucks the trend is hard drugs. Most take a strong position on heroin that has got stronger over the past seven years. Now the proportion of people who believe that heroin dealers should always be prosecuted has crept up to 97 per cent. “The views on heroin show that Britain is by no means becoming a liberal free-for-all,” Alison Park, co-director of the study, said. “People are making quite a clear distinction between what they think (of) as right and wrong.” On other matters, the survey indicates that almost half those questioned think that most of the social security budget goes on unemployment benefits — in fact, they account for 6 per cent; that union membership has fallen by a fifth in the past 18 years, with just under a third of workers in a union; and that half those questioned oppose secondary school selection. In 1984 the figure was 40 per cent. The survey also indicates that 19 per cent of men aged between 25 and 34 live with their parents, twice as many as women. To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: forteana-unsubscribe@egroups.com Your use of Yahoo! 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