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Religious Factors; *Student Attitudes

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Religious Factors; *Student Attitudes DOCUMENT RESUME ED 063 859 HE 003 081 AUTHOR Hanf, Theodor TITLE Factors Determining the Political Attitudes of Lebanese University Students. INSTITUTION Arnold Bergstraesser Institut, Freiburg (Germany). PUB DATE [71] NOTE 60o. EDRS PRICE MF-$0.65 HC-$3.29 DESCRIPTORS College Students; *Higher Education; *International Education; *Political Attitudes; Political Influences; Religion; *Religious Factors; *Student Attitudes ABSTRACT This paper examines the importance of diverse variables in determining the political attitudes and opinions of college students in Lebanon. The independent variables in question were: (1) social origin or class,(2) secondary school, (3) university,CO religious sect, and (5) acceptance (or rejection) and practice (or non-practice) of one's religion. That membership in a religious sect should prove to be the absolutely strongest determinant of political attitudes is no surprise given the specific sociopolitical context of Lebanon. Religion dictates the type of school one will attend, what type of office one may hold, and where, In many cases, one must live. Of minor influence over students' political beliefs is the factor of social class. This is surprising in view of the influence of religion, but this too may change with time. (HS) 4 N (s Factors Determining the Political Attitudesof Lebanese University Students by Prof. Dr, Theodor Hanf Arnold-Bergstraesser-Institute 78 Freiburg, Germany U.S. DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH, EDUCATION & WELFARE OFFICE OF EDUCATION THIS DOCUMENT HAS BEEH REPRO- DUCED EXACTLY AS RECEIVED FROM 'THE PERSON OR ORGANIZATION ORIG- INATING IT. POINTS OF VIEW OR OPIN- IONS STATED DO NOT NECESSARILY REPRESENT OFFICIAL OFFICE OF EDU- CATION POSITION OR POLICY Table of Contents Page I. Introduction 1 A. Objectivesof thispaper 1 B. Thesurveys 2 C. Thesociopolitical setting 3 D. The institutionalframe of the educational system 5 II. The independent variables 6 A. Social originand class 7 B. Secondaryschool 8 C. University 8 D. Religion 10 E. Degree ofagreement with andpractice of one's religion 11 III. The dependent variables 12 A. Interest in politics 12 B. Agreementwith politicalparties and party membership 14 C. Partypreference 16 D. The preferred Lebanese politiciar 23 E. The preferred international politician 30 F. Politicalidea 34 G. Basic political orienzation 38 IV. Examinationof the mostimportant determinant factors 40 A. Interrelationshipbetween independent the problem of variables: tautology 40 B. Social class and integrationin the politicalsystem 43 C. Religious sect and integrationin the political system 47 D. Agreementwith religionand integration political system in the E. Relative significance ofhe exaninevariables for the determinationof political opinions attitudes and 51 V.Conclusion 53 List of Tables 1. Recruitmentfrom the secondary school system 9 2. Reasons for disinterest in politics 13 30 Distribution of parties among thestudents 19 4. Distribution of parties at theuniversities 21 50 Distribution ofparties accordingto religion and religious practice in 1971 22 6. Lebanese politicians preferred by students 26 70 Student preformcefor Lebanese politiciansaccor- ding to the different universities 27 8. Lebanese politicianspreferred by Christianand Moslem students 28 90 Preferred international politicians 30 10. Prefereace forinternational politiciansaccording to university and sect 32 11. The preferredinternational politicians to type according 33 12. Preferred politicalideas accordingto university and religjon 34 13. Basic politicalorientation accordingto university and religion 39 14. Correlation matrix of the independentvariables 41 15. Political integration and socialclass I 46 16. Political integration and socialclass II 46 17. Political inegration amongChristians and Moslems 48 i8. Agreement withone's religion andpolitical integration 50 19. Religious attitude and politicalorientation 51 20. Contingency coefficient matrix ofall variables 52 . , INTRODUCTION ' Many professionsare inalued to overvaluate their own professional status. This trendmay 'be utilized in overcoming the irritations that one generally encountersin every pro- fession. Since a few years teachers, particularlyuniversity instructors, seem to experience considerable tensions,and compensate through overvaluation of their professional status, as well as extreme loyalty to the institution of which they are a member. The validity of auch popularized psychological reflectionsis not our concern here. Nevertheless, the question shouldbe posed as to what reasons lead to the bias evident in numerous socio- logical and political literatureon the subject, "students and politics". In fact, this literature frequently implies that the university, either as an inatitutionor as a framework for specific soclally interacting groups, determines the political attitudes of the students. Not infrequently, other societal variables receive only marginal treatment.1However, the already long known results of socialization, Which has relativated previous assumptions about the importance of educational variables, should produce a certain amount of caution. A. Objectives of this paper This paper will attempt to examine the importance of diverse variables in determining the political attitudes and opinions of studeats. Particular attention will 1.60-devoted to a variable which has been hitherto particularly neglected, that of religion.2 In a previouswork,3this author attempted to show by means of an intercultural comparative study that the v.ariable "religion", has more relevance than previously assumed. This hypothesis - 2 - a will undergo further testingby research group in Yreiburg,who, after having carried outsurveys in theCongo4and Lebanon, are undertaking furthersurveys in Columbia, Indonesia, Gabon (field research completed),as well as in India, Peru, and South Africa (in preparation). Below we will pose thesame question, but with a different methodological approach, that is,naking a longitudinalcompa- rison within thesame country. B. The surveys The data used herewere obtained from two surveys carried out by the author in 1961 and 1971.In both cases, the questionnaires and samoling methodswere identical. A 10% sample of all Lebanese university studentswas stratified according to university, school, sex, and religioussect. Within each stratum,a random sample was selected. In 1961,the sample consisted of 400stu- dents, while in 1971 it increasedto 1,650 due to the increase in student enrollment. The interviewes couldchoose questionnaires in Arabic, English, or French. The reliability of theanswers was tested and con- firmed in a number ofcases by marked questionnaires distri- buted to individualsknown to the author. In orderto inter- pret the data, the resultsof additional in-depth interviews were used. These interviewswere made, besides at the time of the surveys, also in 1965and1968.5 The data were processed in thecomputer center of Freiburg University ona Univac 1108 computer, usingthe SPSS program. For this paper, onlycorrelations witha .000 significance - 3 were used. I am particularlygrateful to Dr. Rainer Hampelof the Arnold-Bergstraesser-Institutefor his cooperation during the processing of thedata. Any errorsare entirely my own responsibility. 6 C. The so2ipsoliticalsettin In contrast withmany homogeneous national states, Lebanonis basically characterizedby numerous, interdependent"communities", each possessing religious,ethnic, and cultural elements.These communities are simultaneouslyreligious and ethnic groupings, and belong to different culttres both inbehavior and in self- perception. About half of the totalpopulation of Lebanon consistsof the various Christian communities:Maronites, Greek Orthodox, Greek Catholics, Armenians, Syrian,Assyrian, and Chaldean Christians. The Moslem Sunnite, Shiite and Druze account for theremainder of the population. Thus, Lebanonis composed of multifarious religious minorities.The strongest Christiancommunity, the Maronites, represent almosta third of the population. The strongest Moslemgroup, the Sunnites, constituteabout one-fifth of the population. These basic social realitiesfind a parallel in thepolitical system of the country,a "concorddemocracy"7with a parliamen- tary basis. In 1943,a Vational Pact was concluded between the Moslem and Christiancommunities upon achievingindependence. According to the Pact, themost important offices in the state are proportionately distributedamong the various communities. The President is alwaysa Maronite, the Prime Ministera Sunnite, - 4 - and the Speaker of the House,a Shiite.Each community disposes over a fixed number of seats in the Nationaly Assembly,and Ministers in the government,corresponding to its number in the total population08 A fundamental political compromise betweenthe Christians and Moslems is incorporated in the NationalPact. Lebanese natio- nalism, which demandc independence anda Western-oriented poli- cy, is advocated by the Lebanese Christians. The LebaneseMos- lems, however, are adherents of Arab nationalism,or inclusion of Lebanon within a Pan-Arab state. Thecompromise of the Natio- nal Pact has required that the Moslemsrenounce Pan-Arab natio- nalism and endorse Lebanese sovereignty.The Christians, on the other hand, must recognize the Arabcharacter of the country in a foreign policy based on Arab solidarity, whiledisclaiting any alliances with the West. Besides the traditional confrontationbetween Lebanese and Arab nationalism, new political tendencieshave developed in the country over the past fewyears,
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