Military Socialization and Masculinity

Abstract

An analysis of military indoctrination as a powerful adult socialization process is crucial to an understanding of adult male role definitions since a significant proportion of the male population has undergone the basic training experience. How the values and norms of masculinity are structured by and for the military and the ways in which they act as socializing agents are explored in a model of military socialization. Some attention is paid to the shift to the all‐volunteer armed force (AVAF) and the military as an occupation. The article demonstrates the type of socialization common to adult males vis‐à‐vis the operationalization of the prototype of masculinity.