The canalization of morality in institutional settings: Processes of values development within military socialization

Abstract

In this article, we aim at analyzing, from a cultural psychological approach of semiotic dynamics, institutional practices guided to promote the development of moral values in the military. Along these socialization processes, each subject actively reconstructs the external messages in particular ways, interacting with social suggestions according to preexistent affective-semiotic orientations. Based on a longitudinal qualitative study conducted over three years at the Academia Militar das Agulhas Negras, which graduates the Brazilian Army’s combatant career commissioned officers, we analyze cultural canalization practices used by the military taking into account the affective-semiotic dynamics involved. We also focus the impacts of military socialization on the internalization of the value of Discipline by three subjects in order to illustrate the variability of meaning making and affective bonding in that context. Our goal is to contribute to the understanding of how institutions canalize moral values, while individuals also play an active role in their own development.

Moral conflict in a (post)war story: Narrative as enactment of and reflection on moral injury

“…Chris’ narrative also illustrates that while moral experience is deeply subjective (Wortmeyer & Branco, 2019), it is not simply a property of the first‐person subject (Zigon and Throop, 2014). By voicing the military register and other veterans Chris depicted in his narrative, and by continually referencing an indeterminate “we” in his ethical reflection, Chris establishes a morally‐valenced world of persons and discourses he inhabits and positions himself within.…”

“…Here, we treat morality as characterizing aspects of life that entail culturally‐specific notions of value or goodness, while maintaining that such notions are always context‐specific and emergent from specific acts and discourses (Fassin, 2012, 5–6; Robbins, 2007). Within the military, institutional values are necessarily shaped by the ultimate goal of a military institution: enabling state violence (Wortmeyer & Branco, 2019, 593). The veteran narrative we examine below is thus “moral” in the sense that it embodies and questions these institutional values—specifically, the value of human life within military operations.…”

Values and norms of behaviour in the life of cadets

“…T he review identifies that there was some research and a few studies conducted on soldier's moral values and ethics. Part of the research was devoted to theoretical considerations about the role of values in soldiers' lives: Knorr (1970), Kilmer (1986), Baynes (1987), Siebold (1996), Shamir et al (2000), Murphy and Farley (2002), Goyne (2004), Britt et al (2006), Carlson and Kewley (2008), Spustek (2012), Baker (2012), Yi-Ming (2014, Dyrda (2014), Schmitz-Wortmeyer andBranco (2019). Empirical research focused mainly on experienced soldiers serving for many years but the youngest soldiers were also examined: Borman et al (1975), Ginexi et al (1995), Jarmoszko (1996), Han Chan (1999, Franke (2001), Bera (2003), Horyń (2004), Forgette-Malone and Paik (2007), Marcinkowski (2012), Yi-Ming (2015), Woodward et al (2016), Schmid Callina et al (2018.…”