Youth and State

Attitude to democracy and the social system in the Federal Republic of
Germany. Judgement on political force and terrorism.

Topics: general contentment with life and well-being in the FRG;
political interest and its development in comparison to earlier;
consent with the political order in the Federal Republic (scale); most
important group representing personal interests; importance of social
values and government influence on the development of goals in life;
degree of concern about political mistakes; attitude to social changes
in the Federal Republic and preferred method for such changes;
assessment of the social capability to change of the Federal Republic;
understanding of democracy and judgement on democratic reality in the
FRG; significance of the history of German democracy; naming democratic
models; assessment of degree of democratization in the countries
Switzerland, USA, GDR and in the Federal Republic (scale); assessment
of possibilities for citizen influence at various political levels;
basic agreement with political action; assumed personal consequences of
radical change of the existing balance of power of left or right; most
important points of personal criticism of society (scale) and
assessment of particularly threatening, social-political problems;
self-assessment on a left-right continuum (100-point scale); judgement
on different manners of action against demonstrators; appropriate legal
action against terrorists; most important reasons for the development
of terrorism in the Federal Republic; causes for personal contacts with
police authorities or the judiciary; party preference; religiousness;
personal considerations on leaving the church; religious denomination
of parents.

Also encoded were: city size; sex of interviewer; age of interviewer;
interviewer education and employment.

The following additional questions were posed to respondents 36 years
old and older: assessment of fascism; existence of exploitation in the
FRG; assumed understanding of democracy among members of the pre-war
generation; political participation; possible intensity of personal
political commitment; detailed information on earlier as well as
current membership in organizations and clubs; intensity of
participation; degree to which it is considered possible to participate
and play a role in established parties as well as citizen initiatives
and groups of alternative ways of life such as work and housing
collectives; degree of personal emotional impact from political
terrorist attacks or murders; political image of the opponent or group
of persons for which one feels a particular hate; characterization of
personal social conduct and consideration for others (scale); judgement
on the press in the Federal Republic; reading habits; participation in
alternative ways of life and experiences, already experienced as well
as desired; identification of political groups as protector or threat
to freedom in the Federal Republic; assessment of personal development
as a result of predisposition or consequence of social conditions;
doubt about the suicide of the terrorists in the Stammheim prison;
stating differences in opinions on politics, society and family between
respondent and parents; characterization of social conduct of both
parents; party preference of both parents as well as of spouse/partner
and the closest friends of respondent; position in sibling sequence;
number of siblings; illegitimacy; youth with parents or in a home; type
and financing of university education; cities of study; residential
surroundings during time of studies; difficulties in school or in
vocational training and during studies; performing military service or
substitute service; service rank; regional and social origins of
parents; parents as members of groups racially or politically or
religiously persecuted; self-assessment of social mobility; judgement
on one´s own occupational future and consent of parents with choice of
occupation.