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

公众对伊拉克和阿富汗战争中受伤和受伤的退伍军人的关注增加，使“受伤的战士”一词流行起来。“受伤的战士是一个新的和象征性的短语，平行于更大的社会背景的转变后，9/11受伤的退伍军人。本研究旨在探讨“受伤战士”的象征意义，以及这一概念如何创造社会期望，进而影响9/11事件后受伤退伍军人的社区和日常生活。本研究通过对40名9/11事件后受伤/患病退伍军人的深入访谈，结合过去十年中主流媒体对受伤退伍军人报道的内容分析，分析了受伤战士背景如何塑造最新一代受伤退伍军人的社会关系、身份和结构资源。由于越来越多的认识无形的伤害，如创伤性脑损伤（TBI）和创伤后应激障碍（PTSD），这项研究使用的可见性之一？的伤害（无论他们是否被看到和伤害的性质）作为一个比较的焦点，分析的趋同和分歧的写照和个人经验的退伍军人在受伤的战士建设。受伤的战士结构提供了一个理论上独特的机会，检查耻辱，身份和地位之间的相互作用。退伍军人如何扮演他们作为一个受伤的退伍军人的身份和角色，也说明了退伍军人作为一个受伤的战士的地位如何抵消他们的服务相关的伤害/残疾/疾病的耻辱。使用定性数据，从深入采访后9/11受伤的退伍军人和最近的媒体报道的内容分析，这项研究解决了三个具体的耻辱，身份工作和知名度之间的相互作用：（1）如何以及何时退伍军人个人受伤的潜在耻辱被他们作为受伤战士的身份所抵消，（2）这如何影响通过身份工作对他们身份的管理，以及（3）具有不同可见和不太可见伤害的个体如何在相同的身份框架和作为受伤战士的期望下进行谈判。受伤的复杂范围以及这些受伤是否与“受伤的战士”的刻板形象相一致改变了退伍军人？消除污名的能力，提出了如何，何时以及在什么情况下发生这种污名抵消过程的问题。完成采访突出如何退伍军人？作为一名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，并指出了不同背景下的污名化经历的差异，如受伤的可见性/识别和不同的社会情况。该项目将从人与人之间的角度来看待在最近的军事冲突中受伤的人在重新融入平民社会方面所经历的考验。

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.