Throughout the history of the W.E.A. there have been arguments, and sometimes bitter conflicts, about the relationship between educational aims and political objectives. This thesis examines the tensions and the dilemmas generally experienced in any education involving social and political values, by taking the clash of principles between the W.E.A. (non-party, unsectarian, with its formal emphasis upon objectivity in teaching) and the N.C.L.C. (with its proclaimed Marxist partisanship) as a fundamental challenge for critical re-assessment in the light of contemporary thinking and research. The study begins with a consideration of six crucial, and even determining, individual experiences and contributions: those of Albert Mansbridge, R.H. Tawney, J.M. Mactavish, J.P.M. Millar, G.D.H. Cole and Raymond Williams. This is followed by detailed surveys of three particular areas of work - Residential Adult Education, Literature as a W.E.A. Subject, and Community Education from 1960 to 1980 - each of which illustrates how a basic tension between political commitment and academic neutrality permeates all aspects of thinking and practice in the adult education movement. The final chapter draws together the threads from the survey of particular lives, histories and thematic studies to address theoretical questions about the concepts of liberal education and academic neutrality; - about Marxist and other attitudes towards objectivity and dogmatism; about the nature of the relationship between the Labour movement and the adult education movement. The tensions are shown to be deep, enduring and seemingly irreconcilable but changes of emphasis and intensity are apparent as the general history and the wider forces and movements in society determine the ideological parameters and the 'paradigm shifts' within which, or against which, the W.E.A. operates. On the strength of eighty four years' experience, if the W.E.A. celebrates its one hundredth birthday in 2003, it will (and should) do so embodying similar fundamental tensions.

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The supposed liberalising effects of higher education have been documented since Newcomb’s landmark Bennington study in the 1930s. However, other research has suggested that the effect of education on beliefs and values may differ between academic disciplines. The main mechanisms by which differing beliefs are believed to develop include the self-selection hypothesis (where students chose disciplines which match their pre-existing belief systems) and the socialisation hypothesis (where students are socialised into the worldview of the discipline through continued exposure). Three correlational design questionnaire studies were conducted. Study 1 and 2 featured 223 and 531 students, respectively, and Study 3 included 143 recent graduates of Murdoch University, from different academic disciplines (primarily commerce, psychology and the social sciences). Study 4 involved interviews with nine students who had switched between the three main fields of study. The quantitative results generally supported the self-selection hypothesis, although some participant accounts suggested possible accentuation effects (where pre-existing values were strengthened by university study). Future research should consider a longitudinal study, tracking students in different academic disciplines over the full-length of their degree. A cross-sectional community study would also be valuable, in determining whether large scale difference exist between the those with tertiary, compared to those with lower levels of education, and whether discipline differences persist following graduation (and whether this is linked to occupation). These findings have important implications for the way universities view themselves, in terms of shaping the minds of the next generation of leaders, and for disciplines, in terms of the types of students they attract and how they can best retain them. In conclusion, there are significant differences in the belief systems of students in different academic disciplines, although not as large as may be expected, and that this seems primarily due to self-selection, rather than socialisation or accentuation.

As the cultural diversity of the United States increases, more researchers are using socio-behavioral perspectives to explain health disparities. These studies are not unwarranted; high incidence rates in conditions like hypertension, obesity, and diabetes in given populations do suggest that cultural factors influence morbidity. But rarely does research examine how political culture affects health. I investigate this relationship using four waves of the National Survey of Black Americans. I focus on factors like political partisanship, electoral and political participation, Black socio-political beliefs, and system perception. Results from several statistical analyses show that African Americans who do not participate in mainstream politics have better health than those that do participate. Findings also suggest that the adoption of Black political orientations positively affects health satisfaction. Other results on key demographic factors are consistent with the wider literature which suggests that age, socioeconomic status, coverage, marital status, and religious identity all influence health. This study is significant because it contributes to a small, but emerging body of literature that examines the connection between political factors and wellness outcomes.

Apocalypticism is the belief in an impending large-scale catastrophic event that would threaten the survival of the human race. Despite the high level of apocalypticism among American adults, there has been little empirical research conducted to determine whether this proclivity is socially consequential. Conspiracism, a related factor, is widely studied empirically and is associated with many negative societal effects. Though research suggests a possible correlation between these variables, empirical research has not examined whether apocalypticism is a robust predictor of conspiracism. I hypothesize and test whether apocalypticism is predictive of belief in conspiracy theories using data from the 2018 Chapman Survey of American Fears, a nationally representative sample of American adults. From this data a multi-item conspiracism index was created and analyzed in relation with a measure of belief in apocalypticism. Regression analyses show that apocalyptic belief is the strongest predictor of conspiracism within the model, surpassing sociodemographic, political and religious characteristics. These results demonstrate that apocalypticism is an important factor to consider when studying conspiracism, and suggests that future researchers should further investigate apocalypticism using a variety of social scientific methods.

Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI) / Time spent in the military has the ability to guide service members with political characteristics that influence voting behavior and political involvement throughout life. The objective of this thesis is investigating the relationship between military service and their personal political ideology. This thesis will address political socialization as an agent, while truly understanding the difficulty in what time spent in the service has. The research questions addressed are: How much does military service contribute to an individual’s political ideology? and, Does military service alter an individual’s political belief from a neutral or liberal perspective to a more conservative view? The variables of political socialization are as vast as our imagination, and is a constant changing process. The course from which we form our political views is indicative of the social constructs from which we are subjected to. The ebbs and flows of life experiences is for the most part planned. To what extent our life experiences shape our views could never be calculated. There are, however, variables that can be applied to almost all human life such as our peers, family, institutions, education, strife, success, struggle, and perseverance. Most can understand that family and school are important early in life. Later as adults; peers, literature, education, and socioeconomic status is more impressionable. This research aims to discover military service as an agent with the ability to frame forming opinions. Military service is not a rare human experience of itself, but is rare in its ability to hold all of the above variables in a complete surrounding environment. Military service has the unique ability to sever ties from outside influence, inhabit complete social submersion, force uniformity in thought, regularity in action, all during the time an individual is most impressionable towards political ideas. This is interesting as it tests a full immersion political socialization environment to what we label ourselves in the grand scheme of political constructs over a life time.

This dissertation examines the influence of executive ideological orientation on state foreign policy behavior. I advance an analytical model which asserts that foreign policy decisionmakers act in a manner consistent with the ideological principles presented in their political platforms, party manifestos, and their voters' expectations. Thus, I assert that within developed democracies, the further right a government is, the higher the propensity to behave more aggressively. Oppositely, the further left a government is, the more likely it is to behave more cooperatively. I empirically analyze this theoretical argument by developing three models where the foreign policy behavior is measured uniquely in each separate model. I estimate executive ideology by using two proxies: one which estimates the overall ideology of the executive while the other captures only the foreign policy dimension of executive ideology. To test the hypotheses derived from the theoretical model, I create a new dataset of responses to international crises. Foreign policy behavior is operationalized as an ordinal variable which takes into account a complex range of actions that governments take in the international arena, such as providing aid, mediation, non intervention, condemnation, sanctions, and the use of force. I employ Logit and Orderd Logit statistical analyses on a large-N cross national model. My dissertation focuses on all 22 OECD countries, during the period 1977 to 2001. The empirical findings partially support my theoretical argument, contingent upon the proxy used for executive ideology and the way state behavior is estimated. I find consistent support to my argument if executive ideology is estimated with the proxy which contains only the party manifestos' foreign policy variables.

This paper deploy the logit approach model and collect annual data from 1974 to 2004 in 22 OECD countries. It can examine that the option of exchange rate regime may cause the replacements of the governor of central banks during his tenure of office. According to prior empirical studies shows that the rightist parties favor low inflation, they may choose fixed exchange rate regime for holding monetary stability; otherwise, the leftist parties prefer low unemployment and high production, they may adopt the flexible exchange rate regime to maintain independent monetary policy and to achieve their macroeconomic objectives. Due to diverse political preferences, Does the choice of exchange rate regime disobeyed the political ideology of ruling party will cause that the central bank governors lose their job? Our results manifest that these chairmen of central banks can independently insist and defend their exchange rate regimes in OECD countries.

Since Deng Xiaoping implemented the ¡§reform and open-up¡¨ policy in 1978, the world has been greatly influenced during these 30 years. ¡§The Chinese phenomenon¡¨ is deeply affecting the international politics and economics. All those results are thought to be connected to the trend of globalization. As the development of political ideology is firmly related to the lasting of Chinese Communist Party¡¦s political power, Chinese Communist Party¡¦s political ideology is inevitably to act and transform in different ways according to whatever the situations are. By doing this way, the Chinese Communist Party can rule the country smoothly and have a successful development of it. Because it is so important that none of the ¡§China studies¡¨ academic circle can neglect it nowadays. Through ¡§A Research on the Developmental Trend of Contemporary Chinese Marxism¡¨, everyone will be able to have a better understanding in China¡¦s rising and its future. After the Hu -Wen system came to be recognized in 2003, they advocated gradually to ¡§the scientific view of development¡¨ based on humane essence, not just focused on the economic development. They also strengthened the steady stability on politics and the collective democracy. Does it imply that, from now on, the China¡¦s policy will incline gradually towards the centre-left? Or is this ¡§the third way¡¨ of the Republic of China? People in the world are all waiting to see what it will be in the future!

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