
New
Directions In Military Sociology (March, 2005)
by Eric Ouellet (Editor)
Reviewer: John Matlock "Gunny" (Winnemucca, NV)
The military as we know it today has been around since at least the days of Alexander and
the Greek phalanx. Yet at the same time the military is in a constant state of change.
Since the end of conscription, the end of the Cold War, and the dissolution of the Soviet
Union the militaries of the world have been in a state of rapid change. This change has
been more apparent in the major countries of Europe and the United States than in many
parts of the world such as the Middle East and Africa.
This book is on the military as a social organization. This encompasses both the
relationship between the military and society, and the inside view of the social structure
of the military institution itself. The book is a series of articles written by
specialists in military sociology from around the world. Authors are from the US, Germany,
England, Canada, Slovenia, the Netherlands, Russia and France.
Many different aspects of military life are addressed from the changes in communications
with family at home (i.e. the impact of e-mail), to veterans affairs, the demands of a low
(or zero) casualty rate, and more.

The
Sociology of the Military (International Library of Critical Writings in Sociology, 11)
by Giuseppe Caforio (Editor)
P.K. Gautam, U.S.I. Journal
'This is one good compendium of military sociology . . . This book would be very useful
for the committee members of the next pay commission, besides those interested in a
psychological and militaristic analysis of the vast subject of military sociology - from
the human to the economic and market trends.'

Killing
Ground : The Civil War and the Changing American Landscape (Creating the North American
Landscape) (April 1, 2002)
by John Huddleston
From Publishers Weekly
Of all the books this season that can be related to the 140th anniversary of Gettysburg
this July, this may be the most immediate and provocative. It pairs 86 b&w photos of
Gettysburg and many other Civil War sites, some taken just after fighting ended, with 77
color photos of the same sites taken (often on the same day of the year and at the same
time of day) over the last few years, by photographer Huddleston. After growing up on the
U.S. Army base at Fort Bragg, N.C., Huddleston went on to Yale, got an M.F.A. at San
Francisco State, and now shows internationally and teaches at Middlebury College in
Vermont. Most often his photos here show how agrarian battlefields have been silently
incorporated into creeping suburbs: the battlefield near Ruff's Mill in Smyrna, Ga., is
now overlooked by a generic strip mall featuring a dry cleaner, while the position of the
Union Right, First Line, near Fort Sanders in Knoxville, Tenn., is now a parking lot
crisscrossed with chain-link and concrete parking barriers. The battlefield at Wilson's
Farm in Pleasant Hill, La., now holds hulking, rusting storage tanks. Without a trace of
didacticism, Huddleston's photos, especially presented in juxtaposition with the past's
open spaces, brilliantly testify to the ways in which history is literally forgotten,
ignored or paved over. They are also beautiful.
Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information, Inc.
Shelby Foote
"Killing Ground is a significant contribution, a new way of looking at highly
familiar images."

The
British Army in the West Indies: Society and the Military in the Revolutionary Age
(Hardcover)
by Roger Norman Buckley

Obeying
Orders: Atrocity, Military Discipline & the Law of War
by Mark Osiel, Mark J. Osiel
Reviewer: Frank (Fort Leavenworth, Kansas)
In this book, Mr. Osiel contends that the military should be more proactive in prosecuting
soldiers for violations of the law of warfare. Osiel contends that current policy
generally leads to litigation only in cases of atrocity. To his credit, the author
recognizes the complexities of the modern battlefield and the "real-world"
impact of imposing new or thicker layers of control within the chaos that is war. He also
recognizes the complexities that peace-keeping and peace-making operations pose for
soldiers and leaders at all levels. Professional soldiers will find some of his example
cases distracting, as they are clear violations of the law without imposing his higher
standard to the situation. This book should be recommended reading for all Judge Advocate
General officers and field-grade commanders that are participating in combined
(international) operations. This book should generate some good discussion among
professional officers as they digest his proposals for increased responsibility at all
levels of the command structure. Any instructor involved in teaching ethics, leadership,
or the Law of War will also find this work helpful.

The
Military and Militarism in Israeli Society (S U N Y Series in Israeli Studies) (Hardcover)
by Edna Lomsky-Feder (Editor), Eyal Ben-Ari (Editor)
The
Military and Conflict Between Cultures: Soldiers at the Interface (Texas a & M
University Military History Series) (Hardcover)
by James C. Bradford (Editor)
Reviewer: "timdavin" (Las Vegas, NV United States)
Editor James C. Bradford does the academic and professional military establishments a
great service with the publication of this interesting and insightful collection of
historical analysis of military establishments caught or placed between competing
cultures. This is a work of serious academic style military history, there is very little
of the popular �guns and trumpets� material in the work. It will appeal
primarily to those that seek to understand broader questions of military history, not the
specifics of particular events.
The central idea binding the work together, albeit loosely at times, is that throughout
history it has been soldiers, or warriors, operating on the respective boundaries of their
cultures that have increased or decreased the friction between the cultures. Along the
same lines, it is soldiers that sometimes are the primary determinants of how much of that
friction is translated into violence. In the post-superpower world of the 1990s this is an
interesting framework to hang a series of essays on military history upon. It almost
guarantees the utility, intended or not, of the book for the professional soldier or
defense interested civilian.
Bradford brings together nine historians for this book. Each is a specialist in their
respective sub-fields of military history. The book is divided chronologically into
�The Premodern era,� and �Western Forces and Indigenous Peoples,� and
finally �Twentieth Century Cultural Perceptions.� It is also initially divided
along a thematic line, primarily focused upon the idea that if early military forces were
in fact polyglot in content, then how could that military maintain any sort of unique
cultural character? The essays in the first part, written by Dr. John Guilmartin of Ohio
State and Dr. Dennis Showalter of Colorado College, explain how even in pre-modern
military forces, the specialization of specific types of troops led to de facto
segregation by function if not by organization. The second part of the book stays in the
Western Hemisphere. American Western historian Robert M. Utley leads off by examining the
nature of the conflict between American Indians and the U.S. Government. John W. Bailey
deals with the schism between the intent of the American �civilizing� mission in
the West, and the reality of some very uncivilized methods by looking at the different
styles of the general officers at work on the Great Plains in the late 19th Century.
Finally, in studying South America historian Richard W. Slatta finds that in Argentina
there was a dual struggle going on. One was the cultural elite trying to gain control of
their own populace, and the was second that larger group of Hispanics seeking to
marginalize and eventually exterminate their own Native Americans. In the third section of
the book Douglas Porch recounts the methods of the French used in northwest Africa while
Carol Petillo looks at the effects of 50 years of Philippine involvement and its�
effects upon the professional U.S. military. The closing essay by Robin Higham deals with
the topic of intercultural command.
We need look no further than the Balkans, or Somalia, or Chechnya to validate the
importance of this book. We are without any doubt, entering a new era where limited war is
not only the most probable, but where it is increasing likely to occur between groups with
unique cultures. At a minimum, there will be soldiers at the interface between cultures
even if they are not necessarily at war. A reflective reader may therefore draw several
useful insights from history from this work. Although it is somewhat more expensive than
the normal work of popular military history due to the fact that it is an academic work,
the cost is made up by the depth of the material. In all essays the writing is clean and
free of excessive specialized jargon, and in most cases the footnotes serve double duty by
adding depth through supplemental explanation. I would heartily recommend this book to any
serious military historian.

Breaking
Ranks: Social Change in Military Communities (Hardcover)
by Christopher Jessup
Reviewer: "timdavin" (Las Vegas, NV United States)
The book claims that it will "explore the many social problems facing the armed
forces today," and that it will further provide invaluable practical advice in
helping the military understand and change in reaction to these "social
problems." While the "explorations" sometimes stand on their own, the the
"practical advice" leaves a lot to be desired. This is not a work that I would
recommend to anyone.
Jessup teaches Social Policy in the Continuing Education Department of Bristol University,
England. He has also run training courses in social welfare for the British military in
various assignments around the globe. These experiences, as well as several decades-old
sociological studies of the armed forces of the United Kingdom and the United States, are
the basis from which Jessup draws his material. This narrow knowledge base is insufficient
given the scope of what he attempts.
Admittedly, Jessup's central topic, the changing nature of the military family in relation
to the military itself, is an interesting one worthy of study. Some chapters are
interesting and well structured. His analysis of shifting demographics in the United
Kingdom and the United States as it relates to recruitment of servicemember retention is
worthwhile. The observations he makes on the developing personal career expectations of
military spouses and how they may affect the military is also of value. It appears that
Jessup is at his best when he offers generalized observations and supports this with
demographic studies. However, when he begins to put forward his "solutions" to
what he perceives as impending problems for the military he steps off secure ground and
flounders in the deep water of unsupportable speculation.
Part of the problem lies in the fact that Jessup actually offers very little in the way of
concrete solutions. Most chapters average twenty pages in length. In each he identifies a
what he believes to be a developing problem or issue. Unfortunately, he generally
concludes with a mere page to a page and a half of actual advice. Given the somewhat
simplistic nature of the advice that he puts forward one would expect a much more clearly
stated and rigourously defended style. Extremely complex social issues such as the open
service of homosexuals in the military cannot be effectively addressed with a terse
paragraph or two. Jessup tries this method and fails.
Further decreasing the possible value of this study is the stretch that Jessup attempts in
order to increase his potential audience. While Jessup may be fairly well versed in the
culture and workings of the British military and the larger society from which it springs,
he is decidedly less so for the United States. His attempts to make cross-cultural
comparisons are weak at best, and misleding at worst. Exacerbating this error is the fact
that he lumps all military forces together in a monolithic block, totally ignoring the
fact that in both the UK and the US each of the various branches of the military appear to
have unique sub-cultural values of their own. None of this seems to matter to Jessup, to
whom all people in uniform are "military" and therefore they think and act in
more or less the same way.
Perhaps the most damning aspects of the book are the major and unsupportable assumptions
that Jessup makes with regard to how the military forces of the UK and US relate to the
broader culture of their own nations. Jessup asserts that the military forces of both
nations are on a collision course with reality if they do not change their attitudes and
behaviors to place them more in synch with their parent nations' cultures. He makes the
assumption that because the military forces of both nations have, for long periods of
time, been geographically seperated from the "home country" the militaries have
developed cultures that are anachronistic and out of touch with the parent society. This
is the root of his entire thesis, and it is false.
Further, by assuming that the military members exist insome sort of "splendid
isolation" he ignores the fact that by far the majority of the military forces of
both nations are stationed inside the national borders of their countries, and in most
cases, inside major metropolitan regions, if not areas. They operate within and at the
behest of our nation, not as some sort of mercenary force but as the instrument of the
people, for the people. Finally, in this age of global communications and the internet,
any idea that they are isolated to the degree he assumes cannot stand on its own.
There are several issues and ideas in this book that deserve a complete study in their own
right. Perhaps that might be the best way to summarize the problems of Breaking Ranks, it
contains concepts that might fill six books if each were developed adequately but the
author tries too hard to force them into one. One hopes that another observer might take
up the challenge in the future and create a study of some of the specific issues raised by
Jessup and delve into them in detail. Jessop glances off the topics and in the end he
fails to convince the reader of the validity of any of his recommendations. |

Handbook
of the Sociology of the Military (Handbooks of Sociology and Social Research) (Jan,
2003)
by Giuseppe Caforio (Editor)
Never before has there been so extensive a collection of what has been thought, said, and
written about the sociology of the military. This accessible handbook is the first of its
kind to delve into the sociological approach to the study of the military. This book is
compiled of documents coming from various researchers at universities around the world as
well as military officers devoted to the sector of study. Covered in this volume is a
historical excursus of studies prior to contemporary research, interpretive models and
theoretical approaches developed specifically for this topic, civic-military relations
including issues surrounding democratic control of the armed forces, military culture,
professional training, conditions and problems of minorities in the armed forces, an
examination of the structural change within the military over the years including new
duties and functions following the Cold War.
This book is ideal for scholars of the subject as well as those coming to the sociology of
the military for the first time.
This ambitious compilation is a much-needed general, but thorough, overview of military
sociology from the time it emerges as a specific subdiscipline in the 1940s. For this, the
volume deserves immediate praise. The handbook's excellent summary of social thought
frames major classical and contemporary debates by careful selection of recent
scholarship. The contributors, from several countries, study issues from various national
and international contexts, and their works are commendably interdisciplinary.
The editor's own work dominates the introductory selections. His chapter on the emergence
of military sociology is a truly remarkable synopsis. For example, he effectively traces
dominant themes emerging from the American School - such as the Huntington and Janowitz
divergence/convergence debate - to the seminal influences of classical theorists before
bringing the readers up to date on recent research under this heading. From his own
cross-national survey of researchers in the field, Caforio reports a general crisis in
theory relative to "practical" empirical studies favored by research groups
outside academia (and sometimes sponsored by governments or their militaries). Perhaps in
response, the works in this volume are thoroughly grounded in theory, and a large section
of the book is devoted to theoretical models. Most notable among these is James Burk's
"Military Mobilization in Modern Western Societies," which uses a synthesis of
several change theories to explain the likely consequences of the international trend away
from mass armies and toward volunteer ones.
Another large section devoted to civil-military relations features two articles about how
evolving military structures affect military families and includes Hans Born's suggestions
for new, post-Cold War frameworks to study ongoing concerns about democratic control of
armed forces. Noteworthy here is Bernard Boene's criticism of the popular notion that
rapid technological innovations largely explain structural changes. He claims that today's
organizational trends - networks of smaller units with flatter hierarchies, decentralized
decision making, an increasing capacity to tolerate ambiguities, and permeable boundaries
- follow from postmodern, ideological shifts that dismantle an overarching, universally
valid, and socially meaningful vision of the military.
Concerning military culture, the increasing participation of women among armed forces is a
subject of wide interest. Marina Nuciari notes, in one of the better articles, that this
trend is necessarily consistent with others: that is, the transition to volunteer forces
and force downsizing, the need for technological expertise, and
new"nonconventional" or "humanitarian" missions. Other works
concentrate on the conversion or restructuring of the military. Significant trends include
a need for "constabulary forces" that respond quickly to flash conflicts
(Manigart), finding new functions for "downsized" military forces as civilian
employees occupy a larger role in military operations (Jelusic), factors encouraging more
flexible and collaborative multinational missions (Dandecker), and the global evolution of
the perceptions and identities of soldiers themselves as "humanitarian
peacekeepers" (Kummel). Caforio appropriately concludes the volume with concise
summaries of these trends and suggests some larger implications from the whole to guide
the next round of scholarship. One important structural change not adequately covered in
this volume is represented by P.W. Singer's Corporate Warriors, which documents the
dramatic increase in the "outsourcing" of traditional military functions to
private, capitalist enterprises.
A few comments on the reference value of this handbook may be useful. Readers are
thoughtfully directed to earlier bibliographies to complement an extensive list of
references (although I found it less convenient that all these were piled into one section
at the end rather than at the conclusion of each piece). Some sociologists might note that
more often than not references come from outside their field. Caforio makes a strong case
for sociology as "the most sound and complete scientific approach to the study of the
military" but argues that the field is rightfully interdisciplinary, preparing
readers for research dominated by approaches from related fields (particularly political
science, cultural anthropology, and social psychology). He justifies this tack using a
quote from Kummel's chapter: "The reason for trans-/interdisciplinarity lies in the
simple truth that the military is a highly complex social phenomenon . . . that cuts
through various levels, touches several different contexts, and is thus subject to
multiple processes of interpretation." Most sociologists will likely appreciate the
interdisciplinary nature of this volume; others should not expect, despite its title, that
the majority of the selections are the product of interdisciplinary sociologists sitting
in departments of sociology. Many of the authors are affiliated with military institutes
(four contributors from the Royal Netherlands Military Academy alone) and disciplinary
affiliations are left unclear. Scholars tired of international compilations dominated by
U.S. studies will find this volume refreshing, as most contributors are European and tend
to use the U.S. as a comparative case. Also, perhaps to counter the "theoretical
crisis" suggested by the editor, the selections decidedly favor qualitative over
quantitative models.
This volume is a valuable addition, long needed by those interested in the military as a
sociocultural phenomenon. It should prove useful to neophytes and seasoned practitioners
alike. The selections are of high quality, well represent the primary lines of research
within the field, and offer implications that could not be more timely. Consistent with
the argument that sociologists should draw widely from numerous fields, we may anticipate
that future research will be "meta-disciplinary" as well - that is, will
incorporate the systematic observations of war correspondents, journalists, refugees, and
others outside academia and established think tanks. Sometimes these observers on the
ground offer the freshest hypotheses and insights.
Reviewer: BRADLEY BULLOCK, Randolph-Macon Woman's College
Copyright University of North Carolina Press Mar 2004.

A
Question of Loyalty: Military Manpower Policy in Multiethnic States (Cornell Studies in
Security Affairs) by Alon Peled
States that use military conscription and whose ethnic minorities have relatives in
hostile countries face a "Trojan horse" dilemma: the state demands military
service but mistrusts the loyalty of subjugated community members. Some armies brutalize
ethnic recruits; others simply reject them. Alon Peled compares the experiences of
Malay-Muslim soldiers in Singapore, Arabs in Israel, and blacks in South Africa. Drawing
on his interviews with senior officers and policymakers, he examines the histories of
these armies and their levels of ethnic integration. He also suggests how minority
soldiers can be gradually recruited, integrated, and promoted.
Ethnic soldiers can only succeed, Peled argues, when officers formulate manpower policy on
the basis of combat needs rather than political concerns. Peled highlights the
behind-the-scenes roles played by officers and ethnic leaders. He advocates new policies
for change, recommending that the leaders of ethnically torn countries such as the
republics of the former Soviet Union and states in central Africa allow professional
officers to introduce soldiers from mistrusted ethnic groups through a process of phased
integration.

Army,
Industry and Labour in Germany, 1914-1918 (Legacy of the Great War) (October 15, 2004)
by Gerald Feldman
This innovative study by one of the leading specialists in the field examines the social
and economic role of the German army in the nation's internal affairs during World War I.
Gerald Feldman is a Professor of History, at the University of California, Berkeley.
War
and Society in 20th Century France by Michael Scriven (Editor), Peter
Wagstaff (Editor)
Presents a vivid picture of the various ways in which the French people experienced war:
resistance and collaboration, the colonial wars, the military and the state, the
military-industrial complex, war propaganda, and literary and cultural representations of
war.

The
Martial Metropolis : U.S. Cities in War and Peace (Hardcover)
by Roger W. Lotchin (Editor)
Review
Historians have viewed the process of urbanization as a dependent variable;
city-building, that is, derived from the interplay of demographic, regional economic and
social-political forces. In The Martial Metropolis editor Roger Lotchin assembled a group
of essays which, he tells us, treat the city and urbanization as independent variables....
Lotchin strongly emphasized the city and the sword concept as the thematic underpinning
for this excellent collection of essays.... It is my conclusion that Roger Lotchin should
be applauded for editing an important collection of well written, scholarly, and readable
essays dealing with an issue that historians and other social scientists increasingly view
as critical to the shaping of modern urban America.Planning Perspectives
Covers the period between the end of World War I and the escalation of the Vietnam
conflict, during which both U.S. cities and the U.S. military came of age. The cities
chosen have had longstanding and broad partnerships with the military. Each city is either
broadly representative or typical of some part of the partnership and provides coverage
for different services, kinds of cities, and geographic locations.

Beyond
Zero Tolerance (Hardcover)
by Mary Fainsod Katzenstein
The U.S. military has an exemplary set of rules governing both race relations and gender
discrimination, and yet it has experienced repeated sex scandals and long-lingering racial
tensions. This book takes on that paradox and critically examines the reasons underlying
it.
Mary Fainsod Katzenstein is professor of government at Cornell University. Judith Reppy is
professor of science and technology studies in the Peace Studies Program at Cornell
University.

Sex
Among Allies (Hardcover)
by Katharine H. S. Moon
The U.S.Korea Review
Drawing on a vast array of dataarchival materials, interviews with officials, social
workers, and the candid revelations of sex industry workersMoon explores the way in which
the bodies of Korean prostituteswhere, when, and how they worked and livedwere used by the
US and the Korean governments in their security agreements. . . .marginalized and made
invisible in militarily dependent societies.
J. Ann Tickner
In a carefully researched study of U.S. military prostitution in Korea, Moon validates
Cynthia Enloe's claim that the personal is international. These moving stories tell how
the lives of Korean prostitutes in the 1970s served as nearly invisible instruments of
U.S.-Korean military policies at the highest level. Moon's innovative case study
demonstrates how a Cold War alliance was maintained at the price of these women's personal
insecurity and challenges us to reconsider the human costs of international security
policies.

Army
of Hope, Army of Alienation: Culture and Contradiction in the American Army Communities of
Cold War Germany (May 30, 2001)
by John P. Hawkins
Review
This is a novel contribution to the fields of anthropology and sociology, but it
also contains important lessons for the American military....Academic
collections.Choice
This ethnography describes the intense contradictions that exist between the cultural
values of American life and the cultural values needed to survive in combat, as
represented through the experiences of forward-deployed U.S. Army units in Germany during
the height of the Cold War. Living in constant military readiness, yet participating in
peacetime community and family processes, Army personnel had to tolerate the
contradictions and live by both sets of principles. In soldier perception, family life and
community activities ought to have been guided by American rather than military values.
Yet the military ran the community, and military activities penetrated and disrupted
family life.
War
and Society in Europe 1870-1970 (War and European Society) by Brian Bond
Spanning a century of warfare in Europe, this bold study shows how war and preparations
for war have exerted a tremendous influence on European society since 1870 and how, in
turn, civilian society significantly shaped the nature of armed conflict. Written in
clear, lively prose, this book sheds new light on European history during one hundred
eventful years.--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
This survey by a leading military historian shows how war has exerted an enormous
influence on European society since 1870, and how in turn civilian society has played a
major role in transforming the nature of armed conflict.
Military
System and Social Life in Old Regime Prussia, 1713-1807: The Beginnings of the Social
Militarization of Prusso-German Society (Studies in German Histories) (Hardcover)
by Otto Busch, John G. Gagliardo (Translator)

World
Military Leaders (Hardcover)
by Mostafa Rejai, Kay Phillips
Focusing on 45 military leaders from four continents and 13 countries, spread across four
centuries, this study paints, for the first time, a collective, comparative portrait of
high-ranking military officers. The authors develop an interactional theory of military
leaders, stressing the interplay between sociodemographic variables, psychological
dynamics, and situational factors. They examine age and birthplace, socioeconomic status,
family life, ethnicity and religion, education and occupation, activities and experiences,
and ideologies and attitudes. They find military leaders to be a remarkably coherent and
homogeneous group of men propelled toward the military by a combination of nationalism,
imperialism, relative deprivation, love deprivation, marginality, and vanity.
MOSTAFA REJAI is Distinguished Professor Emeritus at Miami University, Ohio, where he has
.also been the recipient of an Outstanding Teaching Award. KAY PHILLIPS is Professer of
Sociology and Anthropology at Miami University, Ohio.

The
Tainted War : Culture and Identity in Vietnam War Narratives (Contributions in Military
Studies)
by Lloyd B. Lewis
"Using 19 accounts by enlisted men and company-grade officers, Lewis concludes that
American culture failed to prepare its young men for the reality of the war in Vietnam.
According to Lewis, American males had accepted ideas, based on their fathers' W.W. II
experiences, that wars pit virtue against evil in clearly defined battlefield situations
with individual actions modeled on John Waynes's movie heroics. But the Vietnam War was
unlike any war fought by this generation's fathers. Lewis's perceptive study in the
sociology of knowledge offers many original insights into the Vietnam War. College and
universtiy libraries."
The
Adaptive Military: Armed Forces in a Turbulent World, Second Edition
by James Burk (Editor)
Burk does an above average job identifying the new military security policies and
practices that are becoming necessary in the post-Cold War military. This book is a
synthesis of several articles, each written by distinguished military sociologist and
public policy analyists. I recommend this book to the avid reader who wants to explore
public policy from a sociological approach. |