Journal article
The Privileges of Rank: The Peacetime Draft and Later-life Attainment
Armed forces and society, Vol.34(4), pp.682-713
07/2008
Handle:
https://hdl.handle.net/2376/113651
PMCID: PMC2937255
PMID: 20842210
Abstract
This article examines the effects of peacetime cold war military service on the life course according to four potentially overlapping theories that state that military service (1) was a disruption, (2) was a positive turning point, (3) allowed veterans to accumulate advantage, and (4) was an agent of social reproduction. The article argues that the extent to which the effect of military service on veterans' lives corresponds with one or another of the preceding theories depends on historical shifts in three dimensions: conscription, conflict, and benefits. Military service during the peacetime draft era of the late 1950s had a neutral effect on the socioeconomic attainment of enlisted veterans. However, it had a positive effect on veterans who served as officers, which partly stemmed from status reproduction and selection. Yet net of pre-service and educational differences by rank, officers in this peacetime draft era were still able to accumulate advantage.
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Details
- Title
- The Privileges of Rank
- Creators
- Alair MacLean - Washington State University Vancouver
- Publication Details
- Armed forces and society, Vol.34(4), pp.682-713
- Academic Unit
- Sociology, Department of
- Publisher
- SAGE Publications; Los Angeles, CA
- Identifiers
- 99900547724701842
- Language
- English
- Resource Type
- Journal article