Posing the question, why is war supported? -- Wars, old and new, costs and controversies -- The personal attraction of war -- War in defence of national and other identities and values -- Thinking of us and them, enemies and heroes -- Embedded militarism and readiness for war -- Engineering consent : propaganda and persuasion -- Just war? War as a moral dilemma -- An answer : towards a unified understanding of war support.
Summary:
"My background and motivation for writing this book I have worked in psychology for over 50 years, but not in war studies, nor even in the branches of the discipline most likely to have an interest in war--political and peace psychology. My areas have been firstly clinical psychology and later, with perhaps somewhat greater relevance, community psychology. My day job, so to speak, has been addiction; how to understand it psychologically, how it affects those who experience it directly, either being addicted or being closely affected by someone else's addiction, and how to treat and prevent it. I have sometimes been tempted to pursue the addiction analogy when it comes to studying war: are we addicted to war? But I believe that would just be an analogy. There are much better ways to explain why we go on making war"-- Provided by publisher.
This resource is supported by the Institute of Museum and Library Services under the provisions of the Library Services and Technology Act as administered by State Library of Iowa.