Institutional and Occupational Values in the U. S. Military

Abstract : The United States armed forces have undergone three major interrelated changes during the past four decades. First, along with other industrial nations of the western world, they have abandoned the 'mass force' model of rapid mobilization in times of war and demobilization in post-war periods in favor of a large standing force-in-being. Second, they have replaced a manpower system based upon military conscription with all-volunteer force, again reflecting general patterns in the industrial nation of Europe and the Anglo-American world. Third, the primary function of the military, particularly in the industrialized nations with multi-party parliamentary governments, has been redefined, so that its mission is not to wage war, but to contribute to stability in the international system through deterrence or through constabulary operations. Four themes have achieved prominance in sociological analyses aimed at describing and explaining the structural changes in military organization engendered by these changing definitions of the military institution: (a) the decline of the citizen-soldier; (b) convergence between civilian and military institutions; (c) the industrialization of military organization; (d) structural plurialism within the military. In our analysis we attempt to specify linkages among these theoretical constructs, and to relate them to survey data on the attitudes of American military personnel in the 1970's.