ABSTRACT
This chapter tests the idea that education is the primary determinant of work-centred attitudes, and that all highly educated people are work-centred. The influence of education on sex-role ideology is weak in Britain, but is strong in Spain, where age cohort, historical period and education effects are strongly intertwined as a result of massive recent social change. The chapter shows that the impact of education on patriarchal values is declining across generations in Britain. In Spain, education is strongly associated with sex-role ideology. In Spain, there is a moderate link between family income and patriarchal values, but again education is the key intervening variable. In Spain, the ageing process is similar to that in Britain, but with larger changes between generations. The chapter describes that ageing effects in Britain are coterminous with changes over the lifecycle and reflect some degree of self-selection into and out of marriage. There is no connection between stated sex-role preferences and income-earning roles in couples.
