Sociology in Military Officer Education

Abstract

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.

UNSW and the establishment of the Faculty of Military Studies at the Royal Military College, Duntroon: 1965-1968

“…While there has been extensive discussion and analysis of the problems posed by military cultures for academic projects within civil-military educational institutions (cf. Segal and Ender, 2008;Higbee et al, 2010), it is far less common for attention to be given to the academic institutions and cultures 153 UNSW and the establishment of the FMS that are responsible for providing the "civil" component of a cadet's education. The "institutional genealogy" of ADFA's educational culture and hierarchy, that is, the character and structure of, and between, its academic and military sides, has its origins in the Faculty of Military Studies (FMS)established in Canberra in 1968 with UNSW at the Royal Military College (RMC) at Duntroon.…”

“…While there has been extensive discussion and analysis of the problems posed by military cultures for academic projects within civil-military educational institutions (cf. Segal and Ender, 2008;Higbee et al, 2010), it is far less common for attention to be given to the academic institutions and cultures…”