Exploring the Nexus: Attitudes Toward War and Peace, their Relationship with Economic Thoughts, People's Future Perspectives, and the Importance of Sustainable Development.

Abstract The present study intends to examine different factors including peace and war attitudes, economic thoughts, preoccupation about the future, social dominance orientation, and beliefs in meritocracy. It was hypothesized that individuals with high levels of pro-peace attitudes will exhibit higher levels of social economic thoughts and lower levels of beliefs in meritocracy, pro-anti egalitarianism, and attitudes towards war compared to individuals with low levels of pro-peace attitudes. In addition, the predictive roles of social economic thoughts on preoccupation about the future, and the predictive roles of preoccupation about the future on pro-peace attitudes were examined. Furthermore, gender differences were examined, expecting that female participants will exhibit higher levels of preoccupation about the future, while male participants will exhibit higher levels of attitudes towards war and belief in meritocracy. The study supported the hypotheses by showing statistically significant findings for all examined relationships, providing a deeper understanding of the dynamic relationships of the variables and suggesting practical implications for peacebuilding, gender-specific interventions, and the importance of social economic thoughts. Keywords: Peace, war, economic thoughts, social dominance orientation, meritocracy