Doctoral Dissertation Research: Identity Work, Stigma, and Status among Wounded Warriors

公众对伊拉克战争和阿富汗战争中受伤的退伍军人的关注日益增加，使“受伤的战士”一词得到普及。受伤的战士是一个新的象征性短语，与9/11后受伤的退伍军人在更大的社会背景下的转变相对应。在本论文中，本研究探讨了“受伤的战士”的象征意义，以及这种结构如何产生影响社区和9/11后受伤退伍军人日常生活的社会期望。本项目通过对40名9/11后受伤/患病退伍军人的深度访谈，结合过去十年来主流媒体对受伤退伍军人报道的内容分析，分析了受伤的战士背景如何塑造了最新一代受伤退伍军人的社会关系、身份和结构性资源。由于对创伤性脑损伤（TBI）和创伤后应激障碍（PTSD）等无形损伤的认识日益增加，本研究使用了其中一个的可见性？S伤害（无论是否被看到以及伤害的性质）作为比较焦点来分析受伤战士结构中退伍军人的描绘和个人经历的趋同与分歧。受伤战士的结构在理论上提供了一个独特的机会来研究耻辱、身份和地位之间的相互作用。退伍军人如何扮演他们作为受伤退伍军人的身份和角色，也说明了退伍军人作为受伤战士的身份如何抵消他们与服役有关的伤害/残疾/疾病带来的耻辱。本研究利用对9/11后受伤退伍军人的深度访谈和近期媒体报道的内容分析得出的定性数据，探讨了耻辱、身份工作和可见度之间的三种具体相互作用：(1)单个退伍军人受伤的潜在耻辱如何以及何时被他们作为受伤的战士的身份所抵消；(2)这如何通过身份工作影响他们的身份管理；(3)具有不同可见和不太明显伤害的个人如何在作为受伤的战士的相同身份框架和期望内进行谈判。复杂的伤病范围以及这些伤病是否符合“受伤的战士”的刻板印象改变了退伍军人？抵消耻辱感的能力，带来了如何，何时以及在什么情况下这种耻辱感抵消过程发生的问题。完成的访谈如何突出老兵？作为受伤战士的身份认同工作受到公众对受伤退伍军人的看法的影响，并指出不同背景下的污名体验的差异，例如对受伤的可见性/识别以及不同的社会情况。这个项目将从人际关系的角度来看待那些在最近的军事冲突中受伤的人在重新融入平民社会时所经历的考验。

Increased public attention on wounded and injured veterans of the Iraq and Afghanistan wars has popularized the term "wounded warrior." Wounded warrior is a new and symbolic phrase that parallels a shift in the larger social context for post-9/11 wounded veterans. In this dissertation, This research examines the symbolic meaning of "wounded warrior" and how this construct creates social expectations that impact the community and everyday lives of wounded post-9/11 veterans. Using in-depth interviews with 40 post-9/11 wounded/injured/ill veterans in combination with a content analysis of the mainstream media coverage of wounded veterans over the past decade, this project analyzes how the wounded warrior context shapes the social relationships, identity, and structural resources for the newest generation of wounded veterans. Because of the increased recognition of invisible injuries such as Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI) and Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), this research uses the visibility of one?s injuries (whether they are seen or not and the nature of the injury) as a comparative focal point for analyzing the convergence and divergence of the portrayal and personal experiences of veterans within the wounded warrior construct. The wounded warrior construct provides a theoretically unique opportunity to examine interactions among stigma, identity, and status. How veterans enact their identity and role as a wounded veteran also illuminates how veterans' status as a wounded warrior can counteract the stigma from their service-connected injuries/disabilities/illnesses. Using qualitative data from in-depth interviews with post-9/11 wounded veterans and a content analysis of recent media coverage, this study addresses three specific interactions among stigma, identity work and visibility: (1) how and when the potential stigma of an individual veteran's injuries is counteracted by their status as a wounded warrior, (2) how this affects the management of their identity through identity work, and (3) how individuals with different visible and less visible injuries negotiate within the same identity framework and expectations of being a wounded warrior. The complex range of injuries and whether those injuries align with stereotypical images of a "wounded warrior" changes veterans? ability to offset stigma, bringing into question how, when, and under what circumstances this stigma offsetting process occurs. Completed interviews highlight how veterans? identity work as a wounded warrior is influenced by public perceptions of wounded veterans and point to differences in the experience of stigma by context, such as visibility/recognition of injuries and across social situations. This project will provide an interpersonal view of the trials associated with reintegration into civilian society experienced by those who have been wounded in recent military conflicts.