ATTITUDES TOWARD CIVIL LIBERTIES AMONG JAPANESE AND AMERICAN UNIVERSITY STUDENTS,
Abstract
Teenage attitudes toward a number of social issues, including civil liberties, have been studied in the United States by Remmers and Radler and in Japan by Kato. Remmers and Radler reported that nearly half of America's teenagers are not committed to freedom of the press; over one-half approves censorship of books, newspapers and magazines; and one-third believe that persons should be forced to testify against themselves if necessary. Another one-third does not believe in freedom of speech, and twenty-six per cent think that the police should be allowed to search a person or his home without a warrant. An interesting feature of these results, of course, is the fact that some of the expressed attitudes are in direct contradiction to the principles embodied in the Bill of Rights. In contrast, Kato found that threefourths of his sample of Japanese high school students favored complete freedom of the press; nearly three-fourths believed that a person should not be compelled to testify against himself; and about eighty per cent were opposed to search by police without a warrant and to police wiretapping. Kato concludes that in comparison with American teenagers, Japanese adolescents expressed more democratic political attitudes; that is, more concern with people's rights and freedoms.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Aug 01, 1963
- Accession Number
- AD0428535
Entities
People
- Elliott Mcginnies
Organizations
- University of Maryland