This textbook introduces the reader to the field of military sociology through narrative reviews of selected key studies in the discipline.
The book provides a guided introduction. In each chapter, the authors set the stage and then immerse the reader in Spotlights – that is, descriptions of essential studies that inform the discipline of military sociology. The goal is to afford readers a ready pathway into how sociologists and social scientists have thought about topics in the study of the military and war.
Topics covered in the book include
What is military sociology? What does it have to offer in understanding armed forces, wars, and societies?
What basic tools are needed to ply sociological, or more broadly, social science perspectives for studying war and the military?
What are the bio-social bases of war? What does the spectrum of such societally organized violence look like?
How do societies raise and maintain formal militaries? What are variations in their social composition and in the profiles of civil–military relations?
How and why is military organization and war changing so dramatically in the 21st-century? What does the future hold?
This book will be of great interest to students of military sociology, the armed forces and society, peace studies, and international relations.
Author(s): Wilbur J. Scott, Karin Modesto De Angelis, David R. Segal
Publisher: Routledge
Year: 2022
Language: English
Pages: 261
City: London
Cover
Endorsement Page
Half Title
Title Page
Copyright Page
Dedication
Table of Contents
List of Spotlighted Studies
Note
List of Figures
List of Tables
Acknowledgments
Preface
Notes
About the Authors
Chapter 1: The Advent of a Field
Samuel Stouffer and The American Soldier
The Japanese American Experience in World War II
Morris Janowitz and Unit Cohesion
Military Sociology Becomes a Discipline
Questions for Discussion
Notes
Recommendations for Additional Reading/Viewing
Chapter 2: Sociology and Military Sociology
The Study of Societies and Institutions
The Study of Groups
The Study of Individuals as Social Beings
Theory and Military Sociology
A Classic Study
Theorizing about Violence and War in the Modern Era
Man/Woman, the State, and War
Questions for Discussion
Notes
Recommendations for Additional Reading
Chapter 3: Biological and Cultural Bases of Warfare
Nature via Nurture
The Bio-Social Basis of War
War by Type of Society
War and Gender
Military Culture(s)
Questions for Discussion
Notes
Recommendations for Additional Reading
Chapter 4: The Military as a Bureaucracy and as a Profession
Bureaucracies and World War II
The Study of the Military as a Profession
Professionalization in the All-Volunteer Force
Into the 21st Century
Questions for Discussion
Notes
Recommendations for Additional Reading/Viewing
Chapter 5: Soldiers, Sailors, Airmen, Marines (and Terrorists): Who Fights and Why They Fight
Demography and the Military
Demographics of the All-Volunteer Force
Why Do They Fight?
What about Terrorists: Why Do They Fight?
Questions for Discussion
Notes
Recommendations for Additional Reading
Chapter 6: Race and Ethnicity in Society and in the Military
Why Talk About Race and Ethnicity?
American Indians in the Military
Colonialization and Race
Race/Ethnicity and the All-Volunteer Force
Questions for Discussion
Notes
Recommendations for Additional Reading/Viewing
Chapter 7: Gender and Sexuality in Society and in the Military
Women and the All-Volunteer Force, Round 1
Women and the All-Volunteer Force, Round 2 and Beyond
The Military as a Change Agent
Questions for Discussion
Notes
Recommendations for Additional Reading/Viewing
Chapter 8: Spectrum of Conflict: “Big” Wars
How Lethal Is Human Violence?
World War II: The Ultimate Big War
The Holocaust
Thinking the Unthinkable: Nuclear War
Questions for Discussion
Notes
Recommendations for Additional Reading/Viewing
Chapter 9: Spectrum of Conflict: “Small” Wars
Insurgency/Counterinsurgency Theory
Illustrative Case: The French in Algeria
Illustrative Case: French Indochina and America in Vietnam
Illustrative Case: Northern Ireland
Questions for Discussion
Notes
Recommendations for Additional Reading/Viewing
Chapter 10: Spectrum of Conflict: “New” Wars
The U.S.A. and 9/11
The Israeli-Palestinian Conflict as “New Wars”
The Legality and Ethics of Individuated Warfare
Cyber and Information Warfare
Questions for Discussion
Notes
Recommendations for Additional Reading
Chapter 11: Military Families
Recent Changes in the Civilian Family
Military Families and the All-Volunteer Force
Cross-Cultural Patterns
The Children of Military Families
Questions for Discussion
Notes
Recommendations for Additional Reading/Viewing
Chapter 12: Veterans and Veterans’ Issues
Memory and Commemoration
“Good” Wars vs. “Bad” Wars
U.S. Veteran Characteristics
The Trauma of War
Questions for Discussion
Notes
Recommendations for Additional Reading/Viewing
Chapter 13: Parting Thoughts: What May Lie Ahead
Dragons and Snakes
Threat Picture, I
Threat Picture, II
Implications for Military Organization
Threat Picture, III
A Concluding Tale
Notes
Index
