Military Socialization Research Articles

The Social Processes of Civil War: The Wartime Transformation of Social Networks

Little attention has been paid to the social processes of civil war—the transformation of social actors, structures, norms, and practices—that sometimes leave enduring legacies for the postwar period. In this article, I explore the changes wrought by six social processes: political mobilization, military socialization, polarization of social identities, militarization of local authority, transformation of gender roles, and fragmentation of the local political economy. Some of these social processes occur in peacetime, but war may radically change their pace, direction, or consequences, with perhaps irreversible effects. I trace the wide variation in these processes during the wars in four countries: Peru, El Salvador, Sri Lanka, and Sierra Leone. I analyze the effects of these processes as transformations in social networks. These processes reconfigure social networks in a variety of ways, creating new networks, dissolving some, and changing the structure of others.

Dutch Peacekeepers and Host Environments in the Balkans: An Ethnographic Perspective

This article focuses on the ways in which Dutch peacekeepers in Bosnia (SFOR8) and Kosovo (KFOR2) in 1999–2000 perceived local populations and host countries. It analyses the tension between military combat socialization and peacekeeping missions through ethnographic fieldwork and by borrowing tools from tourism and expatriate theories. Derived from the ‘tourist space’ concept, soldiers construct a spurious ‘peacekeeping space’, which confirms their combat and masculine beliefs that the contrived images which the military establishment has created in the first place are borne out by the reality of the deployment.

Right-Wing Authoritarianism and Social Dominance Orientation in a Canadian Military Sample

Three studies examined the role of self-selection and military socialization on the development of right-wing authoritarianism (RWA; Altemeyer, 1998) and social dominance orientation (SDO; Pratto, Sidanius, Stallworth, & Malle, 1994). The first study compared students who had applied to join a military officer training program with those who had not applied. The second study, a cross-sectional design, compared first-year and final-year military and civilian university students. The third study was a longitudinal study that examined changes on the measures over a period of 4 years. The results from Study 1 demonstrated that students who applied to join the military had lower SDO scores than students who did not apply to join the military. Study 2 revealed higher SDO scores for 4th-year military students compared to 1st year; no differences were found for the civilian samples. Finally, the longitudinal study revealed increases in SDO for military students. In the three studies, no significant increases were observed with RWA. The findings from this research suggest a renewed examination is required of civilian and military differences regarding RWA and SDO. Furthermore, military socialization, and not self-selection, can potentially explain why the military score high on SDO. These results suggest that military and/or educational training experiences could increase SDO scores.

Suspending Routine Duty

Recently, the sociologist Amitai Etzioni developed a theory of the significance of holidays as “seedbeds of virtue” and agents of socialization. With minor modifications, Etzioni’s theory can shed light on the sociological significance of holiday celebrations and ceremonies in military organizations. This article focuses on two key aspects of military holidays that distinguish them from their civilian counterparts: (1) the centrality of the normative notion of “duty” in military culture and (2) the unique temporal constraints to which military holiday celebrations are subjected. Consistent with Etzioni’s claim that holidays function, in part, as agents of socialization, the authors examine holiday celebrations and ceremonies at a major organizational site of military socialization, the United States Air Force Academy. The authors explain how unique properties of military organizations and cultures shape the nature and sociological functions of holiday celebrations and ceremonies in the armed forces.

Public Intimacy: Dynamics of Seduction in Male Homosocial Interactions

Male-to-male (homosocial) friendship bonds extend from the public to the private sphere. Relying on in-depth interviews from a sample of thirty Israeli men sharing a common background of military socialization, this article analyzes how male friends communicate intimacy in public spaces with diverse social and organizational settings. In contrast to the common depiction of men’s joking-relationship as an attempt to maintain autonomy, the author suggests that the homosocial performance is a semi-arbitrary, ambivalent language of relatedness endorsing closeness. The men participate in humorous interactions involving idioms, nicknames, curses, nonsense talk, aggressive gestures, and embraces. These verbal and bodily expressions send an unclear message that teases the participants and draws them to engage deeper in the interaction, generating a dynamic of seduction. The men’s expressive interactions are staged publicly under the guise of instrumental action. It is suggested that although this homosocial staging attempts to erase hints of homoeroticism, it is this very erasure that produces desire as its emergent outcome. Set against the backdrop of instrumental activity, this performance of pleasure serves to empower and privilege male social and organizational networks.

Adjusting to Peace: Military Values in a Cross-National Comparison

Cadets at military academies represent an elite group of junior officers destined to fill the top posts in their respective armed forces and set the future standards of professional behavior. But in an era where the military profession is undergoing tremendous change as a result of a shifting mission requirements-from conventional warfare to peacekeeping and humanitarian aid-how committed are young officers to their future careers and involvement in such missions? To what extent does military socialization shape this commitment? Our research, comparing the attitudes and values of cadets at the United States Military Academy (USMA) at West Point to those of student officers at the South African Military Academy (SAMA) at Saldanha, indicates that the values and long-term commitment of officers to their respective armed forces are directly influenced by both military socialization and reinforcement of those values by the broader society.

Theorizing Continuity: From Military to Civilian Life

While a considerable literature has developed exploring the ways in which military socialization is able to transform individuals from "civilian" to "service" persons, work focusing on the longer-term legacy of these experiences, post-discharge in the civilian environment, is relatively underdeveloped and tends to deal exclusively with paid employment. I tentatively suggest in this article that the concepts of gender (masculinity) and the "sociology of the body" can be put to work to illuminate a number of the potentially long-term transformations effected during immersion in the British armed forces. These unifying themes may transcend the (apparent) diversity of circumstances ex-servicemen experience, from "success" in paid civilian employment, to "failure" in the case of homelessness among a number of the ex-forces population. Both outocmes may be marked by their strongly masculinized contexts, together with concomitant demands made on the physical body. I conclude by arguing that the sociology of the military might benefit from developing contemporary theoretical literatures-including more poststructural approachesthat are laregely absent from the more usual organizational focus.

Duty, Honor, Country: The Social Identity of West Point Cadets

This article explores the extent to which military socialization at the United States Military Academy (USMA) shapes the identity of West Point cadets. Building on social identity theory, the article examines the relationship between the strength of cadets' military and national identifications, their levels of patriotism and warriorism, their attitudes toward the United Nations and peacekeeping operations, and their commitment to a military career. The underlying assumption is that commitment to different social identities affects the preparedness of military professionals for increasingly complex global security needs. The analysis reveals that, although successful in enhancing cadets' identification with military reference groups and boosting their warriorism scores, USMA socialization appears neither to affect cadets' patriotism scores or the potency of their national identifications, nor to strengthen their level of support for the United Nations or their commitment to peacekeeping. In addition, the data provide preliminary evidence, that West Point might be less effective in enhancing the military identity of its female than of its male cadets.

Warriors for Peace: The Next Generation of U.S. Military Leaders

This article examines the extent to which military socialization at the United States Military Academy (USMA) at West Point prepares future officers cognitively for the changing security requirements of the post-Cold War world. The increasing involvement of U.S. armed forces in operations other than war (OOTW) requires officers to shift with mounting frequency from warfighting to peacekeeping and back again as missions change. The article contends that the Army's readiness to serve the nation's interests in the future can best be ensured if officers are committed to both the military's traditional combat roles and to its many new noncombat functions. Using survey methods, the article examines the social, political, and professional attitudes and values of cadets at the USMA in order to measure the effects of military socialization on their level of commitment to the Army's post-Cold War roles.

THE GAP BETWEEN LEADERSHIP POLICY AND PRACTICE: A HISTORICAL PERSPECTIVE

Abstract : In spite of the rapid socio-cultural evolution that has taken place in the United States since its birth as a nation, there has been consistency in US Army policy with respect to leadership. Modern research in the military and social sciences has confirmed the psychological and military validity of the leadership philosophy prescribed by current Army regulations as well as those dating back to the late 18th century. But military leaders have demonstrated a continuing propensity to behave in ways at variance both with policy and with the interests of the service. My purposes in this article are to review the fundamental themes stated in US Army leadership policy since 1778, and to illustrate how practice has regularly, and destructively, departed from them. I will then discuss how military socialization processes have guided new NCOs and officers into behavioral patterns that do not conform to policy, and suggest some ways in which these processes might be changed to bring leadership practice more nearly into consonance with policy.

The Influence of Military Service on Social Consciousness and Protest Behavior

Cross-national analysis of aggregate data has found a relationship between the military participation ratio and national economic growth rates and distributional inequality. This article examines one aspect of this macro-micro linkage by investigating the relationship between acculturation in the military and the attitudes and behavior of the most strategic sector of the Peruvian labor force. Military service retards the development of social consciousness among the working class, reduces their protest participation, and eases their integration into the hierarchy and discipline of the industrial work place. These findings suggest that military socialization may indeed affect growth rate by reducing worker-management and worker-state conflict. On the other hand, it would seem equally likely that the conservative effect of military acculturation contributes to increased inequality of income.

Nontraditional careers for women: A prototypical example

A nationwide survey of a stratified sample of 461 Army ROTC college cadets and 470 of their non-ROTC schoolmates was conducted in order to investigate sex and racial differences in military-related perceptions and attitudes. This article focuses on survey findings dealing with sex differences in respondents' military socialization, knowledge of ROTC and the Army, attitudes toward ROTC and the Army, and behavioral intentions with respect to a military career. Female cadets had (1) fewer military socializing influences, (2) less accurate knowledge about ROTC and the Army, (3) more favorable attitudes toward ROTC and the Army, and (4) less favorable intentions regarding military service than male cadets. Findings 2, 3, and 4 were also obtained in the noncadet schoolmate group; however, in this group, there were no significant sex differences in military socializing influences. A model based on these findings is developed as a starting point for attempts to account for the higher attrition rates of women in the military.

Military Socialization in the University: The Role of Subcultures in Navy-Marine ROTC

Military Socialization in the University: The Role of Subcultures in Navy-Marine ROTC

"On the Effects and Noneffects of Military Socialization"

"On the Effects and Noneffects of Military Socialization"

Military Socialization and Masculinity

An analysis of military indoctrination as a powerful adult socialization process is crucial to an understanding of adult male role definitions since a significant proportion of the male population has undergone the basic training experience. How the values and norms of masculinity are structured by and for the military and the ways in which they act as socializing agents are explored in a model of military socialization. Some attention is paid to the shift to the all‐volunteer armed force (AVAF) and the military as an occupation. The article demonstrates the type of socialization common to adult males vis‐à‐vis the operationalization of the prototype of masculinity.

The Military Wife and Feminism

Previous articleNext article No AccessRevisions/ReportsThe Military Wife and FeminismLynne R. Dobrofsky, and Constance T. BattersonLynne R. Dobrofsky Search for more articles by this author , and Constance T. Batterson Search for more articles by this author PDFPDF PLUS Add to favoritesDownload CitationTrack CitationsPermissionsReprints Share onFacebookTwitterLinkedInRedditEmail SectionsMoreDetailsFiguresReferencesCited by Signs Volume 2, Number 3Spring, 1977 Article DOIhttps://doi.org/10.1086/493395 Views: 14Total views on this site Citations: 3Citations are reported from Crossref Copyright 1977 The University of ChicagoPDF download Crossref reports the following articles citing this article:JANET A. KOHEN The Military Career Is a Family Affair, Journal of Family Issues 5, no.33 (Sep 1984): 401–418.https://doi.org/10.1177/019251384005003007Rosemary Whip The parliamentary wife: Participant in the two‐person single career, Politics 17, no.22 (Sep 2007): 38–44.https://doi.org/10.1080/00323268208401852William Arkin, Lynne R. Dobrofsky Military Socialization and Masculinity, Journal of Social Issues 34, no.11 (Jan 1978): 151–168.https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1540-4560.1978.tb02546.x

Contrasting Institutions of Air Force Socialization: Happenstance or Bellwether?

Two institutions of military socialization, Officers Training School (OTS) and Aviation Cadet Pre-Flight Training School (Pre-Flight), are compared. Light is shed on existing studies which fail to use indicators demarcating basic military subculture. The ACPFTS used harsh techniques to inculcate heroic values and eliminate the "unfit." The OTS uses low-key techniques to presocialize managerial values. The air force is pleased with OTS. It is now the largest source of accessions. Nevertheless, there is a disturbing lack of proof that it produces men who will retain cool judgment in crisis. At the same time, its seeming success challenges the efficacy of existing "harsh" institutions.

The Military Socialization of University Students

The Military Socialization of University Students

The Military Socialization of University Students

The effects of military training in a university setting on the attitudes of prospective U.S. Army officers are examined with a questionnaire administered to all Army Reserve Officers Training Corps cadets at the University of Oregon and to a comparison sample of male university undergraduates. Although the Army cadets do not differ greatly from the university undergraduates on background variables, there are significant differences in personality traits and attitudes related to the “military mind.” Cadets score higher than the campus average on scales measuring: personality authoritarianism, misanthropy, punitiveness, intolerance, aggressive nationalism, political-economic conservatism, belief in imperialism, and preference for vocational training as opposed to liberal education. They score lower on scales of peace responsibility and political alienation. The Army ROTC selectively recruits students with more militaristic attitudes, and there is some evidence that the Corps serves to insulate the cadets from the liberalizing effects of the university.