Doctoral Dissertation Research: Tailoring Post-9/11 Military Credentials for Access to Different Domains of Civilian Life

美国社会正在经历一股从战争中归来的“后9/11”退伍军人潮。社会学家将平民重返社会理解为离开军队并融入平民机构和社区的过程。从表面上看，支持军队的流行言论和联合部队等倡议表明，退伍军人享有强大的机构和公众支持。然而，研究表明，许多退伍军人仍然难以与就业、住房和其他机构资源联系起来。尽管关于退伍军人重新融入社会的学术研究很少，但来自全国调查、战争回忆录、记者和其他人的报告揭示了人们对军民差距的看法。从历史上看，学者们一直在努力确定退伍军人和平民在就业、教育程度和其他结果方面存在差异的潜在机制。该项目侧重于平民重返社会的一个关键方面：当退伍军人表示自己是机构和社会机会的候选人时，交换与军事有关的信息，从而审查对退伍军人的公开支持和有经验的支持之间的脱节。一项调查实验模拟把关情景，以测试美国公众的全国样本如何规范地评估具有不同军事背景的资深候选人。采访和文件分析记录了50名9/11事件后的退伍军人如何重述这些规范轮廓；具体地说，他们在找工作、申请大学、追求浪漫兴趣以及会见潜在生活伴侣的家人时，如何翻译和定制他们的军事信息。这项研究建立在先前研究的基础上，提供了退伍军人和看门人在平民重新进入时如何影响把关结果的数据。调查结果可以让退伍军人了解披露自己服兵役的不同方面可能如何影响他们努力的成功，以及其他退伍军人如何应对这些挑战。致力于重返社会倡议的政策制定者和程序员将获得澄清，了解是什么导致了退伍军人候选人的可取性(或污名化)，以及退伍军人在从战争返回后如何选择和尝试机会，这项研究有助于更广泛地关注互动中的印象管理。

American society is experiencing an influx of "post-9/11" military veterans returning from war. Sociologists understand civilian reentry as the process of leaving the military and integrating into civilian institutions and communities. On the surface, popular rhetoric to support the troops and initiatives like Joining Forces suggest that veterans enjoy strong institutional and public support. Nevertheless, research suggests that many veterans still struggle to connect with employment, housing, and other institutional resources. Although there is little academic research on veterans' social reintegration, reports from national surveys, war memoirs, journalists, and others reveal perceptions of a military-civilian gap. Historically, scholars have struggled to identify the mechanisms underlying differences between veterans and civilians in employment, educational attainment, and other outcomes. This project examines the disjuncture between proclaimed and experienced support for veterans by focusing on one critical aspect of civilian reentry: the exchange of military-related information when veterans present themselves as candidates for institutional and social opportunities. A survey experiment simulates gatekeeping scenarios to test how a national sample of the American public normatively evaluates veteran candidates with different military backgrounds. Interviews and document analysis capture how 50 post-9/11 veterans recount navigating these normative contours; specifically, how they translate and tailor their military information when seeking work, applying for college, pursuing romantic interests, and meeting the families of potential life partners. This study builds on previous research by offering data on how veterans and gatekeepers shape gatekeeping outcomes during civilian reentry. Findings can inform veterans on how disclosing different aspects of one's military service may influence the success of their efforts and how other veterans have navigated these challenges. Policymakers and programmers working on reintegration initiatives will gain clarification in what contributes to veteran candidates' desirability (or stigmatization) and how veterans are selecting and attempting opportunities after returning from war, and the research contributes to more general social science interest in impression management in interaction.