ATTITUDES TOWARD WAR: CHANGING TIMES AND CIRCUMSTANCES

Attitudes toward war as an in- with an average formal education strument of national policy have level of 13 years. The dominant traced out a volati Ie pattern, de- occupational categories were house-pending on the success or fai lure wife, white collar worker, and re-of particular foreign policy initia- tired. About 21 percent were col-ti ves. Such fl uctua tions are typi-Iege gradua tes, and the medi an cal of public opinion in areas income level was $ 16,500. such as foreign policy issues char- A conclusion from Table is acterized by low mass information that the 1979 sample falls some-levels and high levels of chauvin- where between the 1961 hawkish ism. Here we wi II consider opinion and war-ready sample, and the changes over nearly two decades more pacifist sentiments of the in attitudes in the United States 1972 sample. The 1979 survey toward war. came prior to the I ran hostage A 1961 survey based on student crisIs, which may have accentua