AMERICAN STUDENT ACTIVISM
Abstract
Any effort to interpret the changing political behavior of American students in recent years is subject to the difficulty that it is dealing with a local aspect of a worldwide phenomenon. Although the events which precipitated student activism vary from country to country, and the targets of student attack differ, there are more common themes than differences in the tactics and ideologies of the movements. The lack of involvement in adult politics has given free rein to the propensity of youth to adhere to absolute principles, to engage in expressive rather than instrumental politics. Little concerned with the immediate consequences of their actions, the new left student movements appear ready to destroy all existing structures, including the university, and to use tactics which alienate the great majority, in order to make manifest their contempt, their total rejection of the intolerable world created by their elders.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Jul 01, 1968
- Accession Number
- AD0672951
Entities
People
- Seymour M. Lipset
Organizations
- RAND Corporation