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35 Armed Forces & Soc'y 3 (2008-2009)

handle is hein.journals/amdfcsad35 and id is 1 raw text is: Introduction Are o c*&Soit \onume ?> \nber 1 October2008 3-15 ©'~t 2008Ite-University Semina on n Foce and Sociology in Military S So cit. ll right reserved. 10.ll /UU0t ' 1717 Officer Educationtio hosted at http://online.sagepub.com David R. Segal University of Maryland Morten G. Ender United States Military Academy This essay introduces a special issue of Armed Forces & Society examining sociology at military academies around the globe. Articles represent nine countries-Canada, France, Japan, the Netherlands, Russia, South Africa, Sweden, Turkey, the United States. We begin with a brief history of sociology and the military and growth of military sociology as a subfield, followed by the development of military academies in general and sociology at military academies more specifically. The essay concludes with six trends found across the nine nations and ten academies the stigma of sociology; the cannibalization of sociology courses; co-optation of sociological concepts; charismatic leadership; radical social change; and revitalization. Keywords: military academies; officer education; cross-national; military sociology Sociology and the Military For two centuries, sociology as a discipline and armed forces as social institutions have paid minimal attention to each other. With a few notable exceptions such as Herbert Spencer's hypothesized evolution of modern societies from military to industrial forms, Emile Durkheim's consideration of the potential impact of military service on suicide, and Max Weber's use of the Prussian Army as the prototype for his ideal-typical bureaucratic organization,1 classical sociological theory had little to say about armed forces as organizations, or war as a social process. Contemporary social theorists have been more deliberate in examining recent military involvements in their theoretical analysis. Among them are Jean Baudrillard, Douglas Kellner, Mark Poster, and Paul Virilio.2 In their more critical sociological Authors' Note: This project was supported in part by the Army Research Institute under contract W74V8H-05-K-0007. The views of the authors are their own and do not purport to reflect the position of the United States Military Academy, the Army Research Institute, the Department of the Army, or the Department of Defense. Please address correspondence to Morten G. Ender, Department of Behavioral Sciences and Leadership, United States Military Academy, West Point, New York 10996-1784; e-mail: morten.ender@usma.edu. 3

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