ON THE SUBJECT OF A DIVIDED EUROPE - A PRELIMINARY SURVEY OF A SAMPLEOF UK UNIVERSITY-STUDENTS

40 men and 40 women university students responded to a questionnaire i n which were assessed their attitudes towards the future of Europe as nations divided along political grounds or ethnicity. Half of the item s on the questionnaire assessed the extent to which respondents consid er the issue of ethnicity (e.g., language, flag, culture) as a factor important to such a division. The other half were directed to evaluati ng respondents' views on whether the political gains should be conside red were European nations to divide. Analysis showed that respondents considered the issue of ethnicity a more motivating force for division than politics. Moreover, there were significant gender differences, w ith men showing significantly stronger positive views on both issues o f ethnicity and politics than women.