Militarism and Sociopolitical Perspectives Among College Students in the U.S. and South Korea

Students in a U.S. university (n = 187) and a South Korean university (n = 201) responded to a sociopolitical questionnaire that included measures of militarism, nationalism, internationalism, patriotism, respect for civil liberties, and tolerance of dissent. Most correlations between militarism and the comparison sociopolitical variables proved significant in both samples but tended to be stronger in the U.S. sample. Militarism correlated positively with nationalism and patriotism but negatively with internationalism, respect for civil liberties, and tolerance of dissent. The strongest relationships were between militarism and both respect for civil liberties and tolerance of dissent. In the U.S. sample, relationships between militarism and the sociopolitical variables were stronger for males than females.