Would You Like to Know More? Selection, Socialization, and the Political Attitudes of Military Veterans

Although an initial wave of research during the Vietnam War era suggested that the political attitudes of American veterans were not significantly different from those of the public at large, more recent studies argue that this may no longer be true. Thus far, however, the reason for this difference...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Political research quarterly 2023-09, Vol.76 (3), p.1209-1223
Main Authors: Chatagnier, J. Tyson, Klingler, Jonathan D.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Armed forces
Military relations
Polarization
Political attitudes
Political representation
Recruitment
Socialization
Veterans
Vietnam War
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Summary:Although an initial wave of research during the Vietnam War era suggested that the political attitudes of American veterans were not significantly different from those of the public at large, more recent studies argue that this may no longer be true. Thus far, however, the reason for this difference has gone unexplored: are veterans from the volunteer era different because a certain type of person is drawn to military life (selection), or are their attitudes shaped by their experience of service (socialization)? Using new survey data on the political attitudes of Americans, and statistical techniques designed to improve our estimation of the difference between selection and socialization effects, we examine this question, assessing the extent to which the two factors play a role in this attitudinal difference. Our results have implications for political representation, as well as the impact of partisan polarization and recruitment patterns on civil–military relations.
ISSN:1065-9129
1938-274X
DOI:10.1177/10659129221119733