Doctoral Dissertation Research: Identity Formation in the Military

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Policy changes in the past ten years ? such as women?s admission into combat roles, and new accommodations for ethnic and religious minorities-- have brought questions about military identity to the forefront of national conversation. These policies allow for soldiers to express their individual identities; however, they also challenge popular conceptions of soldiers, raising concerns and possible conflict. This project examines how larger trends of resocialization and accommodation play out in the day-to-day lives of new soldiers. The project investigates the experiences of incoming cadet candidates at the United States Military Academy Preparatory School in West Point (USMAPS). The project examines how USMAPS works to (re)socialize cadet candidates into soldiers and future officers, and how cadet candidates, whose civilian identities are constrained by a regimented institutional context, re-fashion personal self-definitions and routines. The project will study how cadets interpret and respond to this re-socialization as they prepare for future military service. The findings will contribute to understanding of how the military and other modern institutions socialize new participants to develop human capital suitable to new institutional roles. This project uses ethnographic fieldwork, in-depth interviews, and quantitative text analysis to address questions regarding socialization into the military. The fieldwork involves participating in cadet candidate academic, physical, character and military development training. The project will conduct over 100 interviews with cadet candidates from a variety of social backgrounds, as well as additional interviews with staff. The project will also include forty hometown visits to observe cadet candidate behavior outside of the institutional setting, to see their neighborhoods, and interview family members about how they perceive the cadet candidate career choices and any changes they have noticed in behavior. The project also employs quantitative text analysis to study contemporary and historical documents related to the integration of women and minorities at West Point and in the U.S. military. Project findings will contribute to sociological literatures on organizations, diversity and culture, particularly as they relate to re-socialization into critical U.S. institutions.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.