Title
Self-selection Versus Socialization Revisited: Military Service, Racial Resentment, and Generational Membership
Publication Date
2016
Document Type
Article
Abstract
Scholarship on racial attitudes has found that white veterans of World War II and the Korean War had more positive views of blacks than white civilians. However, more recent studies have argued that white veterans who have served in an all-volunteer force (AVF) now express more virulent views of blacks. Using data from the 2010-2012 Cooperative Congressional Election Study, we explore whether military service continues to predict positive racial attitudes. We find that white veterans express more negative views of blacks relative to white civilians and that white veterans in the AVF generation exhibit the most negative views of blacks. Taken together, we believe that our results suggest a reassessment of the role of contemporary military experiences in liberalizing white racial attitudes and offer support for the self-selection perspective.
Original Citation
Nteta, T. M. & Tarsi, M.R. (2016). Self-selection Versus Socialization Revisited: Military Service, Racial Resentment, and Generational Membership. Armed Forces & Society. 42(2), 362-385. https://doi.org/10.1177/0095327X15580115
Identifier
Virtual Commons Citation
Tatishe, Nteta M. and Tarsi, Melinda R. (2016). Self-selection Versus Socialization Revisited: Military Service, Racial Resentment, and Generational Membership. In Political Science Faculty Publications. Paper 60.
Available at: https://vc.bridgew.edu/polisci_fac/60