Orientation of College Students Toward International Relations

Abstract

The orientation of college students toward international relations is related to their domestic ideology, with conservative students tending to emphasize the use of military power and those progressively oriented in domestic affairs generally advocating international co-operation. Changes of attitudes between 1950 and 1952 further accentuated this tendency. This pattern of change seems to result from the fact that the student's political convictions determine, in part, his interpersonal associations and, hence, the social pressures that act upon him. As a consequence, individuals least integrated in the college community are least likely to change their orientation in either direction.