Political Ideology and the Willingness to Enlist,
Abstract
This paper will contrast the relative impact of patriotic and apatriotic motives on decisions made by a group of college students to enlist in the armed forces. The decision to contrast differences in political ideology is made to assess the impact of the increasing reliance by the military to focus on levels of pay and other market-linked conditions of work to establish military manpower policy. The central thesis of this study is that this reliance on economic incentives disregards the political motives of potential members. The basic research design of the paper is to ask who, by political ideology, is most inclined to enlist under presently constructed conditions and then to repeat the process after offering more attractive enlistment incentives. The hypothesis that students whose responses indicate that they tend to be ideologically apatriotic will show a greater propensity to enlist is rejected. The principal conclusion is that patriotism does play a role in determining the enlistment decision. (Author)
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Apr 01, 1984
- Accession Number
- ADP003330
Entities
People
- R. P. Kane
Organizations
- United States Military Academy