On the appeals of extremism to the youth of affluent,democratic societies

Abstract

This is a study of the appeals of political extremism to those who would appear to have no objective reasons for being attracted to it, namely, a portion of the upper‐middle‐class and upper‐class youth of modem, affluent, democratic societies.

It is felt that this appeal is based mainly on psychological factors resulting from problems created by the modern world reacting with the special temperament of youth, particularly young persons going through the modern form of adolescence in the partly artificial environment of the universities. The paper notes how conformism patterns prevailing in this special environment will spread the popularity of extremist views once they have become established among some key groups in it.

The paper also discusses the factors that have made left‐wing extremism far more popular than right‐wing extremism during the post‐World War II period, the reasons why significant student extremism came to the United States later than to Europe, and the hypothesis that student extremists may be merely voicing in a much stronger form political views learned in the home.

The research for the paper consists of a review of literature in this area.     

The Profession of Budgeting

Budget practitioners may have difficulty in defining a common academic ground for preparation for their careers sufficient to permit calling themselves professionals. Nevertheless, senior budget persons share common concerns, including significant changes in their relationships to the political officials of their agencies. These changes may be the result of the transition from incremental budgeting in a time of plenty to a time of scarcity and intense competition for resources.