Who Knows About Human Rights? Survey Evidence from Four Countries

Sur: International Journal on Human Rights, Vol. 20, 2014

37 Pages Posted: 12 Mar 2014 Last revised: 3 Sep 2014

See all articles by James Ron

James Ron

University of Minnesota - Twin Cities; Centro de Investigación y Docencia Económicas (CIDE) - Division of International Studies

David Crow

Center for Economic Research and Teaching (CIDE)

Shannon Golden

University of Notre Dame

Date Written: March 7, 2014

Abstract

This article presents early results from the Human Rights Perception Polls, representative surveys on human rights attitudes conducted in 2012 in Mexico, Colombia, Morocco and India. We investigate statistical associations between two measures of human rights familiarity – exposure to the term, “human rights,” and personal contact with human rights workers – and four measures of socio-economic status (SES): education, income, urban residence, and internet use. Controlling for sex and age, we find higher SES is generally associated with more human rights exposure and contact. Interpretation of these results’ practical ramifications, however, depends on readers’ underlying view of the human rights mission. Should human rights groups engage chiefly with society’s poorest and most vulnerable populations? If so, our results suggest room for improvement. If readers instead believe human rights groups should focus on elites, advocate high level reforms, or link disparate groups, however, our results offer less cause for concern.

Keywords: Survey data, human rights, public opinion, Morocco, Mexico, India, Colombia, elites, grassroots

Suggested Citation

Ron, James and Crow, David and Golden, Shannon, Who Knows About Human Rights? Survey Evidence from Four Countries (March 7, 2014). Sur: International Journal on Human Rights, Vol. 20, 2014, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=2407103 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.2407103

James Ron (Contact Author)

University of Minnesota - Twin Cities ( email )

Minneapolis, MN
United States

Centro de Investigación y Docencia Económicas (CIDE) - Division of International Studies ( email )

Mexico City
Mexico

David Crow

Center for Economic Research and Teaching (CIDE) ( email )

Circuito Tecnopolo Norte 117
Col. Tecnopolo Pocitos II
Aguascalientes, 20313
Mexico

Shannon Golden

University of Notre Dame ( email )

Kroc Institute for International Peace Studies
100 Hesburgh Center for International Studies
Notre Dame, IN 46556
United States

Do you have negative results from your research you’d like to share?

Paper statistics

Downloads
153
Abstract Views
1,119
Rank
345,594
PlumX Metrics