Some East German Attitudes Toward Law and Political Authority

Abstract

Nine University of Leipzig students provided usable responses with a Q sort
which had been previously administered in the United States. Two factors
were discovered: four subjects were Constitutionalists and three
Individualists. Constitutionalists actively favored their new democratic
system, but were willing to contemplate civil disobedience should
democratic values be threatened. Individualists were skeptical of the
political system and were committed to living their own personal lives.
All nine subjects were law abiding. Comparisons are made with 87
American college students who had taken the same Q sort almost a decade
previously.