Attitudes toward the military: need for recognition and national and political identifications

Abstract This paper reports on a quantitative study that examined the relationship between need for recognition and militaristic attitudes, and tested the mediating roles of identification with Turkish society and left/right-wing political ideology in this relationship. The sample included 436 (297 women and 139 men) Turkish university students (living in Türkiye) aged between 18 and 36 years ( M = 22.18, SD = 2.68). Results indicated that after controlling demographic variables (age, gender, and military affiliation), Turkish identification and political orientation significantly mediated the relationships of need for recognition with attitudes toward value of the military, militaristic system, compulsory military service, and masculine structure of military. Accordingly, the need for recognition was positively related to identification with Turkish society, while it was negatively related to identification with right-wing political ideology. Besides, people -who identified more with Turkish society and right-wing political ideology- reported stronger militaristic attitudes. In addition to the well-known relationships of national identification and right-wing political ideology with militaristic attitudes, our study sheds light on the processes preceding these known associations by adding the variable of need for recognition to this equation. These results point to theoretical and practical implications in the process of making sense of the variables associated with militaristic attitudes.