Academic literature on the topic 'Imperialism – Public opinion – History'

The age of high imperialism was also the age of the emergence of mass journalism. This heralded a steady widening of what might be called the “political nation,” that is, those groups who took an active interest in politics in contrast to the mass of the population still largely outside the political arena. Up to the 1890s politics tended to be Honoratiorenpolitik—confined to “notables” or Honoratioren, a term first applied by Max Weber around the turn of the century to describe the elites who had dominated the political power structure up to that time. Gradually “public opinion” ceased to be, in effect, the opinion of the educated classes, that is, the classes dirigeantes. In Wilhelmian Germany the process of democratization had been successfully contained, if seen in terms of the constitutional system; the age of mass politics was still far away.

In 1898, the year Americans first sailed forth to fight in other countries to protect purported victims of imperialism, A. V. Dicey steamed into Harvard University to deliver his lectures on Law and Public Opinion in England. Like William Blackstone, Vinerian Professor before him, Dicey deployed a number of memorable epigrams to capture what seemed basic truths of his day. Dicey's assertion that ‘protection invariably involves disability’ appeared to state the obvious to Americans at the turn of the century.In this essay I will consider how the United States Supreme Court embraced Dicey's epigram and translated it into decisions during the tenures of Chief Justices Fuller and White about the capacity of the individual in the United States to contract and care for himself.

ABSTRACTThe international diffusion of ideas has often been described as an abstract process. John Bowring's career offers a different insight into the practical conditions that permitted a concept, free trade, to spread across national borders. An early advocate of trade liberalization in Britain, Bowring promoted free trade policies in France, Italy, Germany, Egypt, Siam, and China between 1830 and 1860. He employed different strategies according to local political conditions, appealing to public opinion in liberal Western Europe, seeking to persuade bureaucrats and absolute rulers in Central Europe and the Middle East, and resorting to gunboats in East Asia. His career also helps to connect the rise of free trade ideas in Europe with the ‘imperialism of free trade’ in other parts of the world. Bowring upheld the same liberal ideals as Richard Cobden and other luminaries of the free trade movement. Yet unlike them, he endorsed imperial ascendancy in order to remove obstacles to global communications and spread civilization outside Europe.

Questions about the perspectives of the European empires colonial system after the Great War, forms and ways of its transition to postcolonial age, relativity of the colonial powers experience to the US foreign policy, were very popular and quite debating for the American public opinion during and after the end of the World War I. colonial system research cannot be complete without studying the press of the powers that signed the Versailles Treaty. In order to give a detailed analysis of international relationships in terms of the global transformations from the American point of view relevant newspaper articles published after the Great War should be analyzed. The results have shown changes in priority in schemes of colonial system transformation as it was viewed in American public discourse during 1919-1922. Woodrow Wilson plan for the colonial powers dismantle was gradually replaced by the less radical plans, which presupposed the use of the colonial experience in the US foreign policy. Materials of the American press for the 1919-1922 reveals that there was a search of the most effective and optimum strategy of the relations with the European empires as well as with its dependent territories. Analysis of American press reveals its steady interest in negative and positive experience of colonial empires in search of the lessons of history. In 1919-1922 most prominent journalists were focused on Europe, which was represented as the cornerstone for the US foreign policy by the White House, the US State Department and the media. And we can clearly see another factor affecting approaches to the colonial issue in American press. It was the Soviet Russia attention and support to the national liberation movements in Asia and Africa. The Red Menace had become one of the factors that forced American media to redefine the colonial issue in light of the new world order which had been created after the end of the Great War on the base of the Versailles Treaty.

AbstractThis paper considers the extent to which Subhas Chandra Bose and the Indian National Army (INA) contributed to India's liberation from British imperialism. The fundamental issue examined is why leaders of the Indian National Congress appropriated the INA legacy, contrary to two decades of non-violent struggle and regardless of the incompatibility of Bose's ideology and strategic vision. Drawing on published sources that chart policy decisions and illustrate the attitudes of leading actors in the formulation of Congress policy, this paper hypothesizes that Congress leaders defended INA prisoners-of-war and questions why the Congress apparently abandoned its long-established principles for immediate political gains, only to re-prioritize anew India's national interests once the public excitement over the INA had quietened. It illustrates that the Congress's overt and zealous defence of the INA was intended to harness public opinion behind an all-India issue rooted in sentimentalism and patriotism. The paper concludes that such support was crucial to the Congress's post-war electioneering campaign and was designed to counter the Muslim League's equally emotive electoral messages.

In a decade marked off by the quincentenaries of the voyages of Columbus (1492) and that of Vasco da Gama (1498) or perhaps more chronologically and interculturally correctly by the 1502 arrival of three Native Americans at the court of Henry VII of England, it is appropriate to take stock of the field of ‘European expansion’ and to ask if, in fact, such a field exists, or ought to exist, or still means the same thing that it did a generation ago. The celebrations and condemnations that accompanied the quincentenary in 1992 refocused public attention on the question of European expansion and its impact on history of die Americas and of the world. Voices long suppressed and opinions never before expressed found new audiences and joined with scholarly and semi-scholarly works to make Columbus and all that followed in his wake a topic of general public concern. It is dierefore appropriate to take stock once again of what we know about die Era of European Expansion prior to die emergence of modern imperialism in die nineteenth century.

AbstractBeginning in the late 1830s, a coalition of non-conformists, abolitionists, free traders, and disenchanted East India Company proprietors began to vocally challenge the exploitative policies of the colonial state in British India. Led by lecturer George Thompson, these reformers pursued a rhetorical strategy of associating groups who were converted into ‘mere tools’ by the Company abroad and the aristocracy at home. These monopolistic entities degraded Indian peasant cultivators, the British working classes, and princely sovereigns alike through forms of ‘virtual slavery’ that persisted in the post-Emancipation empire. In staging these protests, reformers ran up against an adversarial Board of Control and Court of Directors who obstructed their efforts to mobilize public opinion. Probing their agitation reveals the existence of a particularly combative strain of liberal imperialist thought that defied the political status quo.

AbstractSeirogan, a popular anti-diarrhoeal pill, is arguably one of the most successful pharmaceutical products of modern Japan. What is less known is that the Japanese army initially developedSeiroganduring the Russo-Japanese War as the ‘Conquer-Russia-Pill’, which was later marketed to the public by private manufacturers. Previous scholars have emphasised the top–down governmental method of mobilising private sectors to manipulate public opinion for the cause of external imperialist expansion and domestic stability during wartime Japan. But the matrix that the Conquer-Russia-Pill allows us to glimpse is an inverted power relation among the state, commercial sectors, and imperial citizens. While the Japanese government remained indifferent if not hostile to jingoistic pharmaceutical manufacturers who could easily disrupt international relations, pharmaceutical companies quickly recognised and exploited the opportunities that the Conquer-Russia-Pill and its symbolism provided under the banner of the empire. In turn, Japanese consumers reacted to commercial sermons carefully anchored in patriotic and militaristic discourses and images by opening their wallets. In other words, the popularity of the Conquer-Russia-Pill was a culmination of the convergence of a governmental initiative to enhance military capabilities, the commercial ingenuity of pharmaceutical manufacturers, and a consumer response to patriotic exhortations.

AbstractThe global justice movement reveals a diverse array of emergent publics striving politically for a sustainable world. Working partly from John Dewey, we try to illuminate democratic grounds for knowledge and action in these endeavors. We begin by situating Dewey's ideas in the politics of American history, especially historian John Diggins' countervailing approach to issues of authority, knowledge and opinion. Diggins, against Robert Westbrook and others, contends that Dewey's philosophy of politics chased radical democratic illusions, whereas he might have learned from Charles S. Peirce to uphold the boundary between professional communities and other entities including democratic publics. Dewey saw no democratic alternative to harness the political energy of ordinary people. We argue that Dewey had come to understand that a corporate state system of political economy had come to engulf both the liberal democratic polity and the professions. Dewey's political challenge to the professions and his illumination of the aesthetic ecology of democratic publics prefigure a democratic republican alternative that opens up a new basis for participation in the global justice movement confronting, among other obstacles, a transnational corporate state based in the USA.A Marxist-progressivist notion of the ongoing socialization of markets by corporate capitalism too often reinforces an anti-Populist intellectual sensibility that is coupled with, whether wittingly or not, either a social-democratic elitism or a revolutionary vanguardism. Globalization struggles need, on the contrary, a pragmatic vision of democratic publics instituting a true diversity of policies assuring a world-in-common. The fight for public spaces in the treacherous politics of civil society and global consumerism is a struggle against subjectivization. The fact that corporate state elitism, in the U.S. context, feeds on a rightist version of nationalism does not mean we can junk the history of democratic struggle for a republican alternative to imperialism. By and large, neo-liberal policies "from above" have aggravated various types of inequality and the militaristic turn pursued by some elites compounds not only negative side effects but critical opportunities. Democratic action in and from the United States has to be clear about both place-based forms of life and expanding forms of solidarity in global struggles for democracy and the commons.Our reading of Dewey is strengthened by research that highlights his ecological ontology and its key role in his democratic theory. We argue that globalizing knowledge regimes and their products, such as deforestation, re-institute destructive dualisms that would be transformed by a Deweyan approach that energizes democratic forms of agency and policy. Dewey's essay on "Time and Individuality" is explicated to disclose the radical democratic implications of Deweyan science. We show further that this approach, as a field science and ecological stewardship, provides public alternatives to violence, whether primarily "social" or "environmental". A Deweyan logic of particularity casts in contrasting relief our historical epoch's dominant logic of fungibility, the fetishization of global economic space, and its looming costs. The reclamation and reconstruction of democratic publics are long overdue and requires new regimes of participatory and place-based knowledge opening on the global commons for sustainable life.

This thesis investigates the ways in which British and French imperial heroes involved in the exploration, conquest or administration of Mrica between 1870 and 1939 were selected, packaged and promoted to the various sections of the public of their respective countries. It seeks to unveil the commercial, political and personal interests that lay behind the imperial hero-making business. This research analyses the hidden mechanisms, as well as the reasons that led to the appearance of a new type of hero in the context of the 'new' T Imperialism and the 'Scramble for Mrica': private connections, political lobbies (especially colonial advocates and nationalists), commercial interests (journalists, writers, biographers, hagiographers, publishers, film-makers) and personal ambition, the combination of which underpinned the creation and success ofheroic reputations. The first part of the thesis investigates the process through which imperial heroes progressively became widely known in their homelands, and how it was facilitated by the technical and social improvements of the Second Industrial Revolution. Drawing upon a wide variety of printed and manuscript sources, it shows the ever-increasing commercial success of imperial heroes throughout the period, analyses how they could serve political ends, and explains the values for which 'they were held up as examples. The second part examines the case studies of two military commanders in times of Anglo-French rivalry in Africa (the Sirdar Kitchener and Major Marchand before, during and after the Fashoda confrontation of 1898), in order to compare the modalities of the development of these legends, and the different backdrops against which they took shape. This thesis is the first to combine quantitative evidence (such as print run figures) and qualitative sources (such as police records) to demonstrate conclusively the prevalence and complexity of the hero-making process brought about by the conquest of Mrica, and to evaluate the reception of these heroic myths among the public.

This thesis concentrates on two discrete contexts in which Jewish and imperial concerns converged: the Boer War and the British Mandate for Palestine. For Britain's Jews, the Boer War represented a rare and uncomfortable moment in which the Jewish Question achieved relative prominence. However the war also generated a different set of 'Jewish questions', leading the Anglo-Jewish establishment to refine its own understanding of patriotic and imperial duty. The case of Palestine, by contrast produced less straightforward and predictable outcomes. Ottoman entry into World War I, which prompted both British and Zionist considerations into the merits of a Jewish homeland as part of the imperial system, created an acute conflict for British Jewry's communal leadership. Although not negating the advantages of a British-Jewish Palestine either to the Empire or to Jews in need of refuge, its decision to oppose the Balfour Declaration privileged at some cost a distinctive reading of Jewish interests over a more obvious synthesis of national and sectarian goals. Despite continued objections to Zionism's ideological outlook and its pursuit of statehood, the Anglo-Jewish establishment located in the interwar development of a British-Jewish Palestine a means to advance both Jewish communal and imperial agendas. As the alliance between the Zionists and Britain unravelled in the final decade of the Mandate, British Jews eager to safeguard their position as well as their vision of Palestine's future would persist in defending this relationship. In its exploration of the evolution of Anglo-Jewish attitudes towards Britain, the Empire and Mandatory Palestine, this thesis aims to address both thematic and chronological gaps in the historiography of Anglo-Jewry. By drawing attention to the uniqueness of Anglo-Jewry's imperial connection to Palestine and to the domestic impact of British involvement, my work also contributes to scholarship on Zionism and the Mandate Finally, it offers a framework for considering the impact of, and relationship to, Empire of minority groups residing in Britain.

I investigate the social history of Egypt under British imperial occupation through the lens of morality in order to understand the contestation of cultural change and authority under empire. Points of cultural cleavage between European and local inhabitants in British-occupied Cairo included two customs, gambling and the consumption of intoxicants, which elicited sustained and dynamic reactions from observers of Egyptian society on the local and international level. I show that the presence of alcohol and gambling in public spaces in Cairo contributed directly to the politicization and selective criminalization of public morality. However, the meanings attributed to social practices relating to leisure were continually under negotiation and challenge as state authorities, British liberals, Egyptian reformers and religious leaders, foreign missionaries, and representatives of international temperance movements vied to impose their visions of morality upon Egyptian society.

This thesis examines public opinion towards the participation opinion of the British Auxiliary Legion in the Spanish Civil War. It is based on an analysis of British newspapers, periodicals and political discussion between 1835 and 1838. It suggests that, although there was some degree of support for the foreign policy of Lord Palmerston in sending the legion to aid liberalism in the Peninsula, yet that support declined rapidly. In spite of Palmerston's eventual claim that intervention in Spain had been worthwhile, public opinion was not to reflect the view that his policy had been a right one, or that the British Auxiliaries had been indispensable to the cause of Spanish constitutionalism.

The title of this thesis is 'British Perceptions of the Ottoman Empire (1876-1908). The thesis explores the 'cultural dimension1 of relations between the Ottoman Empire and Britain in this period, involving an examination of ideas about and representations of Ottoman society and its peoples. The overall aim is to stress the importance of these representations in in influencing and affecting relations between Britain and the Ottoman Empire. Nineteenth-century writings about the Ottoman Empire produce strong images of Ottoman society and steroetypes of the Turkish and Christian populations. These images are reconstructed and their significance examined. The approach is contextual and perceptions are analysed in the historical, material and cultural framework of late Victorian Britain. Descriptions of Ottoman society are treated as representations of that complex reality, with varying degrees of accuracy and inaccuracy, reflecting or distorting conditions in the Empire. In addition the relationship between older ideas and ideas developing at a new historical conjuncture of late nineteenth-century imperialism are considered important factors in determining the overall image of the Ottoman Empire in the late Victorian mind. In these ways the conclusion stresses the importance of, and the relationship between ideas about the Ottoman Empire, and the concrete factors of inter-state relations of which they are part. As such the subject contributes to an understanding of the multi-dimensional nature of nineteenth-century relations between a weak and strong state in the International system, and the degree to which culture and ideas are informed by these relationships of power. The study contributes to a greater understanding of the Eastern question and sheds light on many of the ideas that have come to influence modern historiography about the Ottoman past and the appreciation of Ottoman and European diplomatic history.

This chapter argues that the expansion of a nation’s shipping industry, though often accompanied by imperialist activity, does not guarantee it. Katayama Kunio considers the role of commerce, rather than imperialism, to be the intrinsic link to shipping expansion, and uses the expansion of Japanese shipping before the 1894-1895 Sino-Japanese war as the core case study. Kunio studies the contextual background to Japan’s international shipping interests, including the history of the Nippon Yusen Kaisha company, the ambitions of Japanese Shipowners, the debates in Japanese parliament, and Japanese public opinion, to determine the motives that led Japan to enter into international shipping and trade.

At the beginning of the French nuclear history, CEA controlled all the nuclear development including its safety. In 1950s, this situation was changed by the participation of many industrial companies, which means industrialization of nuclear technology. This change became clearer when they adopted PWR in 1970. And so they needed and established a system to make safety regulation by putting the multiple actors’ opinions together. After the accident of Chernobyl, antinuclear public opinion has increased. And in 1997, The Greens obtained the post of the Minister of Ecology. These facts required more independent and transparent regulatory system, so in 1998, a report which proposed to establish a new regulatory organization was published. On the basis of this report, they founded ASN in 2006. From this French history, we can say that as the relationship between nuclear technology and the society changed, the regulatory body also changed to meet the necessity.

Whilst nuclear power does not seem to have the support of public opinion in many parts of the world China is forging ahead with its ambitious nuclear programme. Some might argue that this is to support their weapons programme but that clearly is not the case and is undoubtedly to provide a stable source of energy for the generation of electricity but also for alternative peaceful uses such as desalination. This paper covers the history of nuclear power in China over more than thirty years and addresses what impact, if any, their policy of continued expansion of nuclear power will have on the rest of the world. The different reactor types installed in China is reviewed, the infrastructure and the overall strategy is surveyed.

The article is devoted to the study of traditional Korean culture, its features, the history of the formation and development of intercultural exchange with neighboring countries; assessment of the processes of unification of national culture in modern conditions of development; issues of preserving the national identity of Koreans in the political, economic life. In this article, special attention is paid to the analysis of the phenomenon of the Korean “cultural wave”, the history of its development, the identification of the main reasons for its popularization among the masses of a global nature, the identification of the main vehicles of both modern and traditional culture of the Korean people. This article explores the policy of interest and the role of governmental and non-governmental institutions for the dissemination of knowledge about Korea on a global scale. Consideration of the national Korean media culture as the main source of influence on public opinion and a factor contributing to the formation of an imitative image of the Korean (style) of life.

The cognitive capabilities of the teleological paradigm of purpose are discussed. An inquiring mind everywhere sees that inanimate matter serves for living, and that, in turn, serves for a man. However, such a concept as “purpose” turned out from the contemporary science, although for a long time it went along the path of becoming the doctrine of purpose determination, or nomogenesis. The history of the substitution of the main paradigm of science from purpose to chance is traced. The overcoming of the catastrophic representations of Cuvier by the provisions of actualism and evolutionism is considered. From the middle of the 19th century, public opinion began to strengthen that every new scientific achievement casts doubt on religious beliefs. Criticism of biblical history began with the events of the Great Flood, as the key one in the Bible. The negative attitude to catastrophism in the Soviet scientific literature and the importance of ideology in the methodology of science are considered. The anthropic principle predetermines a radical restructuring of the general scientific methodology. It finally comes closer to religious knowledge. The anthropic principle is teleological and contains that goal (“eidos-entelechia”) in the structure of matter that impels it. In this light, the power of science is again seen not in confrontation with religion, but in harmonization with it.

Technology is one factor that has formed the basis for change in the media throughout history. Analog data and information shared by verbal, visual or written methods are now stored, processed, reproduced and shared in digital format due to developments in information technologies. On the other hand, social media, which is an important part of the digital media system, has become an important medium for political communication studies due to its prevalence and big data. As political actors better understand the value of data sets of millions of users, their interest in social media has also increased. However, this growing interest has also brought concerns such as digital profiling, informatics surveillance, systematic disinformation, and privacy violations. It has long been discussed that the practices of governments and technology companies for creating a structure similar to the gatekeeping in traditional media by taking social media under control. In recent years, some of these discussions are (ro)bot accounts on social media because online social networks are no longer just connecting people. Machines talk and interact with people, and even machines do this with other machines. Automatic posts made by bot accounts through algorithms to imitate people’s behavior on social media are liked, reposted or commented on by people and other bots. Bots that make political shares are also used by political actors worldwide, especially during election periods. Politicians use political bots to appear more popular on social media, disrupt their rivals’ communication strategies, and manipulate public opinion. This study aimed to reveal the effects of bots on political communication. After explaining the concepts of propaganda, algorithm, bot and computational propaganda, how political bots could affect the public sphere and elections were discussed in the light of current political communication literature.

Aim/Purpose: This paper provides the results of the preliminary analysis of the findings of an ongoing study that seeks to examine the social media use, cultural and political awareness, civic engagement, issue prioritization, and social activism of Gen Z students enrolled at four different institutional types located in the Mid-Atlantic region of the United States. The aim of this study is to look at the group as a whole as well as compare findings across populations. The institutional types under consideration include a mid-sized majority serving or otherwise referred to as a traditionally white institution (TWI) located in a small coastal city on the Atlantic Ocean, a small Historically Black University (HBCU) located in a rural area, a large community college located in a county that is a mixture of rural and suburban and which sits on the border of Maryland and Pennsylvania, and graduating high school students enrolled in career and technical education (CTE) programs in a large urban area. This exploration is purposed to examine the behaviors and expectations of Gen Z students within a representative American region during a time of tremendous turmoil and civil unrest in the United States. Background: Over 74 million strong, Gen Z makes up almost one-quarter of the U.S. population. They already outnumber any current living generation and are the first true digital natives. Born after 1996 and through 2012, they are known for their short attention spans and heightened ability to multi-task. Raised in the age of the smart phone, they have been tethered to digital devices from a young age with most having the preponderance of their childhood milestones commemorated online. Often called Zoomers, they are more racially and ethnically diverse than any previous generation and are on track to be the most well-educated generation in history. Gen Zers in the United States have been found in the research to be progressive and pro-government and viewing increasing racial and ethnic diversity as positive change. Finally, they are less likely to hold xenophobic beliefs such as the notion of American exceptionalism and superiority that have been popular with by prior generations. The United States has been in a period of social and civil unrest in recent years with concerns over systematic racism, rampant inequalities, political polarization, xenophobia, police violence, sexual assault and harassment, and the growing epidemic of gun violence. Anxieties stirred by the COVID-19 pandemic further compounded these issues resulting in a powder keg explosion occurring throughout the summer of 2020 and leading well into 2021. As a result, the United States has deteriorated significantly in the Civil Unrest Index falling from 91st to 34th. The vitriol, polarization, protests, murders, and shootings have all occurred during Gen Z’s formative years, and the limited research available indicates that it has shaped their values and political views. Methodology: The Mid-Atlantic region is a portion of the United States that exists as the overlap between the northeastern and southeastern portions of the country. It includes the nation’s capital, as well as large urban centers, small cities, suburbs, and rural enclaves. It is one of the most socially, economically, racially, and culturally diverse parts of the United States and is often referred to as the “typically American region.” An electronic survey was administered to students from 2019 through 2021 attending a high school dual enrollment program, a minority serving institution, a majority serving institution, and a community college all located within the larger mid-Atlantic region. The survey included a combination of multiple response, Likert scaled, dichotomous, open ended, and ordinal questions. It was developed in the Survey Monkey system and reviewed by several content and methodological experts in order to examine bias, vagueness, or potential semantic problems. Finally, the survey was pilot tested prior to implementation in order to explore the efficacy of the research methodology. It was then modified accordingly prior to widespread distribution to potential participants. The surveys were administered to students enrolled in classes taught by the authors all of whom are educators. Participation was voluntary, optional, and anonymous. Over 800 individuals completed the survey with just over 700 usable results, after partial completes and the responses of individuals outside of the 18-24 age range were removed. Findings: Participants in this study overwhelmingly were users of social media. In descending order, YouTube, Instagram, Snapchat, Twitter, Facebook, Pinterest, WhatsApp, LinkedIn and Tik Tok were the most popular social media services reported as being used. When volume of use was considered, Instagram, Snapchat, YouTube and Twitter were the most cited with most participants reporting using Instagram and Snapchat multiple times a day. When asked to select which social media service they would use if forced to choose just one, the number one choice was YouTube followed by Instagram and Snapchat. Additionally, more than half of participants responded that they have uploaded a video to a video sharing site such as YouTube or Tik Tok. When asked about their familiarity with different technologies, participants overwhelmingly responded that they are “very familiar” with smart phones, searching the Web, social media, and email. About half the respondents said that they were “very familiar” with common computer applications such as the Microsoft Office Suite or Google Suite with another third saying that they were “somewhat familiar.” When asked about Learning Management Systems (LMS) like Blackboard, Course Compass, Canvas, Edmodo, Moodle, Course Sites, Google Classroom, Mindtap, Schoology, Absorb, D2L, itslearning, Otus, PowerSchool, or WizIQ, only 43% said they were “very familiar” with 31% responding that they were “somewhat familiar.” Finally, about half the students were either “very” or “somewhat” familiar with operating systems such as Windows. A few preferences with respect to technology in the teaching and learning process were explored in the survey. Most students (85%) responded that they want course announcements and reminders sent to their phones, 76% expect their courses to incorporate the use of technology, 71% want their courses to have course websites, and 71% said that they would rather watch a video than read a book chapter. When asked to consider the future, over 81% or respondents reported that technology will play a major role in their future career. Most participants considered themselves “informed” or “well informed” about current events although few considered themselves “very informed” or “well informed” about politics. When asked how they get their news, the most common forum reported for getting news and information about current events and politics was social media with 81% of respondents reporting. Gen Z is known to be an engaged generation and the participants in this study were not an exception. As such, it came as no surprise to discover that, in the past year more than 78% of respondents had educated friends or family about an important social or political issue, about half (48%) had donated to a cause of importance to them, more than a quarter (26%) had participated in a march or rally, and a quarter (26%) had actively boycotted a product or company. Further, about 37% consider themselves to be a social activist with another 41% responding that aren’t sure if they would consider themselves an activist and only 22% saying that they would not consider themselves an activist. When asked what issues were important to them, the most frequently cited were Black Lives Matter (75%), human trafficking (68%), sexual assault/harassment/Me Too (66.49%), gun violence (65.82%), women’s rights (65.15%), climate change (55.4%), immigration reform/deferred action for childhood arrivals (DACA) (48.8%), and LGBTQ+ rights (47.39%). When the schools were compared, there were only minor differences in social media use with the high school students indicating slightly more use of Tik Tok than the other participants. All groups were virtually equal when it came to how informed they perceived themselves about current events and politics. Consensus among groups existed with respect to how they get their news, and the community college and high school students were slightly more likely to have participated in a march, protest, or rally in the last 12 months than the university students. The community college and high school students were also slightly more likely to consider themselves social activists than the participants from either of the universities. When the importance of the issues was considered, significant differences based on institutional type were noted. Black Lives Matter (BLM) was identified as important by the largest portion of students attending the HBCU followed by the community college students and high school students. Less than half of the students attending the TWI considered BLM an important issue. Human trafficking was cited as important by a higher percentage of students attending the HBCU and urban high school than at the suburban and rural community college or the TWI. Sexual assault was considered important by the majority of students at all the schools with the percentage a bit smaller from the majority serving institution. About two thirds of the students at the high school, community college, and HBCU considered gun violence important versus about half the students at the majority serving institution. Women’s rights were reported as being important by more of the high school and HBCU participants than the community college or TWI. Climate change was considered important by about half the students at all schools with a slightly smaller portion reporting out the HBCU. Immigration reform/DACA was reported as important by half the high school, community college, and HBCU participants with only a third of the students from the majority serving institution citing it as an important issue. With respect to LGBTQ rights approximately half of the high school and community college participants cited it as important, 44.53% of the HBCU students, and only about a quarter of the students attending the majority serving institution. Contribution and Conclusion: This paper provides a timely investigation into the mindset of generation Z students living in the United States during a period of heightened civic unrest. This insight is useful to educators who should be informed about the generation of students that is currently populating higher education. The findings of this study are consistent with public opinion polls by Pew Research Center. According to the findings, the Gen Z students participating in this study are heavy users of multiple social media, expect technology to be integrated into teaching and learning, anticipate a future career where technology will play an important role, informed about current and political events, use social media as their main source for getting news and information, and fairly engaged in social activism. When institutional type was compared the students from the university with the more affluent and less diverse population were less likely to find social justice issues important than the other groups. Recommendations for Practitioners: During disruptive and contentious times, it is negligent to think that the abounding issues plaguing society are not important to our students. Gauging the issues of importance and levels of civic engagement provides us crucial information towards understanding the attitudes of students. Further, knowing how our students gain information, their social media usage, as well as how informed they are about current events and political issues can be used to more effectively communicate and educate. Recommendations for Researchers: As social media continues to proliferate daily life and become a vital means of news and information gathering, additional studies such as the one presented here are needed. Additionally, in other countries facing similarly turbulent times, measuring student interest, awareness, and engagement is highly informative. Impact on Society: During a highly contentious period replete with a large volume of civil unrest and compounded by a global pandemic, understanding the behaviors and attitudes of students can help us as higher education faculty be more attuned when it comes to the design and delivery of curriculum. Future Research This presentation presents preliminary findings. Data is still being collected and much more extensive statistical analyses will be performed.