Whatever happened to military sociology?

Last updated on: February 11, 2012 at 12:59 pm by Mark Regnerus

Whatever happened to military sociology? 2012-02-11T12:59:24-05:00 Mark Regnerus

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

There’s a graduate student I know who has a significant interest in what’s called military sociology. Never having studied it, I can’t comment a great deal on what its boundaries are. I just know that it’s not exactly a thriving sub-discipline within American sociology. That’s a little strange, given that we’ve fought two wars that have spanned the past decade and Iraq and Afghanistan are never out of the news. So far as I can tell, military sociology would be located within the ASA section on Peace, War, and Conflict—also not a large section (I suspect—I’m not sure).

Charles Moskos was considered the finest military sociologist of his era, although he’s probably only known broadly for coining the term (and the now-defunct doctrine of) DADT: don’t ask, don’t tell. Apparently he was a fan of restoring the draft, which he believed would fashion a sense of common purpose among diverse groups, as compulsory military service appears to do in Israel. I suspect it’s not been considered closely because it’s not been necessary, and because a very large standing army is too expensive to maintain. And if your odds of being drafted are relatively poor, the “shared sense of purpose” becomes shared rather narrowly, thus probably defeating the point.

A veteran himself, Moskos traveled to numerous areas of conflict for research purposes. I know there have been professional anthropologists who’ve been embedded, at different times, with the US Army in Afghanistan. But I’m not aware of any sociologists who’ve done the same. (Again, I could very well be wrong—it’s rather difficult to keep track of an entire discipline, especially one you’re not a member of.) A 2009 New York Times article suggests the embedding business wasn’t too popular with the AAA, the American Anthropological Association. A report investigating the Pentagon’s Human Terrain System “cited insufficient training to prepare scholars for work in the field, concern about confidentiality and obtaining informed consent from the local population, and the possibility that collected research could be used to select military targets. Scholars are supposed to refuse to hand over any data they suspect will be used for choosing targets.” While I recognize that the crossover appeal of embedding oneself with military forces is the best way to get data, I’m not surprised that the true independence of the researchers and their data would be at stake and potentially compromised.

Back to military sociology—why is it so Spartan, so under the radar (pardon the puns)? The answer, I presume, lies in professional self-selectivity. Sociology, as you may know, isn’t known for its conservativeness. (As if you didn’t already know, it tends to attract people who wish to change the world—in certain directions.) And the military remains one of the more conservative organizations in the U.S. It’s not that the military takes political sides. (In a democracy like ours, that is a wonderful thing.) It’s that people who join the military are more apt to be political conservative, especially in the officer corps. I’m not talking Tea-Party conservative, necessarily, just plain old conservative. So interest in the military, and weapons, and combat, and the details and logistics of global conflict just tends to be something that sociologists aren’t known for.

Insofar as questions about the military concern issues and topics more commonly located within sociologists’ purview—like ones of race and gender—then we’ll see more sociological studies of the military. (I recently considered pursuing a study of deployed families and their marriages, but didn’t move forward with it.) But even so, there still doesn’t seem to be a lot going on. Minimally, a sociological study or two of how nixing DADT is working out seems merited. Sandwiched here in Austin between the military hubs of Fort Hood and Joint Base San Antonio (two Air Force bases and an Army installation), you’d think there would be some significant military sociology going on in central Texas. But I don’t think there is. That strikes me as unfortunate. One of my colleagues, John Butler—a Vietnam veteran himself—has written on military sociology at various times during his career, including a book with Charles Moskos, and actively supports this student. But he’s typically busy running other things these days. So I’m just struck, and disappointed, that there aren’t more sociologists out there studying the military and human interaction during conflict. I get the dangerous part, but it’s still unfortunate. Here’s to more in the future.

Previous Post

February 5, 2012

Finding God Through Evolution

Next Post

February 7, 2012 Mr. Baltzell’s Neighborhood: The Rise of Word “Mainline” and the Decline of Mainline Denominations

Browse Our Archives

Select a Category Amy Reynolds Becky Hsu Brad Wright critical realism George Yancey Gerardo Marti Jeremy Rhodes Jerry Park John Schmalzbauer Margarita Mooney Mark Regnerus Nicolette Manglos positive sociology Richard Flory Robert Woodberry Uncategorized

Select a Month April 2017 August 2016 April 2016 March 2016 February 2016 January 2016 December 2015 November 2015 October 2015 September 2015 August 2015 July 2015 June 2015 May 2015 April 2015 March 2015 February 2015 January 2015 December 2014 November 2014 October 2014 September 2014 August 2014 July 2014 June 2014 May 2014 April 2014 March 2014 February 2014 January 2014 December 2013 November 2013 October 2013 September 2013 August 2013 July 2013 June 2013 May 2013 April 2013 March 2013 February 2013 January 2013 December 2012 November 2012 October 2012 September 2012 August 2012 July 2012 June 2012 May 2012 April 2012 March 2012 February 2012 January 2012 December 2011 November 2011 October 2011

TAKE THE

Religious Wisdom Quiz