The Founding of Military Sociology: The American Soldier
Nazlı Terzi, Adem BaşpınarThis article examines the emergence of the discipline of military sociology in the context of Samuel A. Stouffer and his project, The American Soldier. More than 200 different questionnaires and interviews with over half a million soldiers made this project the largest field research ever conducted. In this context, the study first discusses the conditions that gave rise to The American Soldier project, such as the status of sociology in the USA in the interwar period, its function and power to produce public results, and its positioning between theory and practice. Next, the study presents in general terms the agenda of The American Soldier project, its goals, and its processes. The study then evaluates the output of the project and discusses the publications that fall within the scope of social psychology and sociology according to their content. The article then evaluates the general characteristics of military and war adaptation studies, deployment and job satisfaction studies, ethnic-based research, and the deployment scoring system developed in The American Soldier alongside the findings from the project. As a result, The American Soldier project was a milestone that paved the way for the institutionalization of military sociology and prepared the birth of a subdiscipline.
Askerî Sosyolojinin Kuruluşu: The American Soldier
Nazlı Terzi, Adem BaşpınarBu makale, askerî sosyoloji disiplininin ortaya çıkış sürecini Samuel A. Stouffer ve onun önderliğindeki “The American Soldier” projesi kapsamında ele almaktadır. Yarım milyondan fazla askere uygulanan 200’ün üzerinde farklı anket ve mülakatlar, bu projeyi o döneme kadar uygulanan en büyük saha araştırması yapmıştır. Bu çerçevede öncelikle “The American Soldier” projesini ortaya çıkaran koşullar ele alınmıştır. İki savaş arası dönemde ABD’de sosyolojinin durumu, kamusal çıktılar üretme işlevi ve gücü, kuram ile uygulama arasındaki konumlanışı gibi hususlar ele alınmıştır. Ardından “The American Soldier” projesinin gündeme gelmesi, projenin amaçları, süreçleri genel hatlarıyla tanıtılmıştır. Projenin ürünleri değerlendirilerek özellikle sosyal psikoloji ve sosyoloji kapsamına giren yayımlar içeriklerine göre ele alınmıştır. “The American Soldier” kapsamında yapılan orduya ve savaşa uyum çalışmaları, göreve atanma ve iş memnuniyeti çalışmaları, etnik temelli araştırmalar ile atama için üretilmiş puanlama sisteminin genel özellikleri, projedeki bulgularıyla birlikte değerlendirilmiştir. Sonuç olarak “The American Soldier” çalışmasının askerî sosyolojinin kurumsallaşma süreçlerine giden yolu hazırlayarak bir alt disiplinin doğuşunu hazırlayan mihenk taşlarından birisi olmuştur.
Military sociology emerged as a discipline in the 20th century. Despite some studies having been conducted on soldiers and the army prior to World War II, these studies were not directly included in the field of sociology but rather included in the field of other subdisciplines such as psychology. Only after World War II was the military able to be seen to become the subject of sociology, and sociological studies on the military gradually increased (Ateş, 2020, pp. 57–58). In this framework, the emergence and development of military sociology as a discipline through Janowitz, who had also been influenced by Stouffer, took place a decade after Stouffer’s death, and military sociology emerged as a discipline. The fact that military sociology had not existed by such a name and not been considered a subdiscipline at the time of Stouffer’s work led to Stouffer not being characterized as a military sociologist at that time (Segal, 2013, p. xiii). However, Stouffer’s work is seen to have allowed him to be considered as both a military sociologist and one of the founding figures of military sociology. From this perspective, this article seeks to answer the question of what impact The American Soldier (TAS) project had on the emergence of military sociology as a subdiscipline and how it contributed to the military sociological literature. This article is a qualitative study that uses the historical comparative method with the aim of showing how TAS was an important study that formed the foundations of military sociology.
This article also aims to show how TAS, which was conducted by a team led by Samuel A. Stouffer (1949), served as a source for military sociology as a subdiscipline and to introduce both Stouffer and TAS to the Turkish literature. In order to achieve this, the study will first present the general characteristics of sociology in the USA during the period when TAS was being prepared, and then present TAS in detail. The project’s full title was “Studies in Social Psychology in World War II: The American Soldier” and comprises four volumes: The American Soldier: Adjustment During Army Life, The American Soldier: Combat and Its Aftermath, Experiments on Mass Communication, and Measurement and Prediction. This article discusses the first and second volumes, which have more intensive social psychological studies.
Military sociology emerged as a discipline in the mid-20th century and developed rapidly after World War II. While military studies had previously been included in other subdisciplines, military sociology found its own identity after this period. This article examines TAS’s contributions to the development of military sociology and its literature.
Samuel A. Stouffer was the leading figure in TAS. Stouffer had received his Ph.D. from the University of Chicago and was instrumental in popularizing empirical research. His dissertation showed measuring attitudes to be possible using the survey method, which marked a fundamental step for military sociology.
This article discusses the development of the discipline of sociology in the United States. After World War I, social reform movements, the promotion of sociological research, and the spread of statistical studies led to the acceptance of sociology as a science. The University of Chicago played an important role in making sociology an objective science.
Samuel A. Stouffer was an important figure in the field of sociology. He contributed to the development of social research and statistical methods and emphasized the importance of surveys for scientific research. Stouffer’s doctoral dissertation contributed to the acceptance of sociology as an objective science.
TAS was directed by Stouffer (1949) and examined the lives and experiences of American soldiers during World War II. It focused on social psychological studies and examined the living conditions of military personnel in detail. TAS has made significant contributions to the literature of military sociology.
Stouffer and his team collected and analyzed a large body of data on the attitudes and problems of US soldiers during World War II. These studies covered a wide variety of topics, including soldiers’ attitudes, morale problems, perspectives toward their leaders and the war, anxiety control, duty stations, and rotation problems.
One of TAS’s goals was to provide the US Army with information about soldiers and to use that information to help formulate policy. To this end, the research branch collected, analyzed, and presented information on soldiers in the form of reports. These reports were made available to the general public at the end of the war.
TAS addressed the problems related to adjustment and motivation created by the size of the US Army and the rapidly growing number of soldiers. It also examined the process of how soldiers adjusted to the authoritarian structure and values of the military and presented data on soldiers’ attitudes.
In conclusion, TAS stands out as an important research initiative aimed at understanding the attitudes and problems experienced by US soldiers during World War II. It has been a fundamental resource for developing an in-depth understanding of military sociology as well as soldiers’ social and psychological experiences.
This article provides information on studies that have examined the level of cohesion and satisfaction of soldiers within the army under the heading of cohesion studies. These studies (Stouffer et al., 1949) have examined the effects of factors such as education level, age, and marital status on soldiers’ attitudes and cohesion.
TAS has shown that the factor of education to influence soldiers’ adaptation levels. In particular, a relationship has been noted to exist between soldiers’ education levels and their skills and socioeconomic status. Soldiers with higher education levels are noted to be generally more disciplined and obedient. In addition, educational advances in the USA between World Wars I and II were stated to have been reflected on the army, with newly recruited soldiers’ education levels being higher.
Soldiers with higher education levels have more positive attitudes than those with lower levels of education. Meanwhile, those who have not achieved status in the army may have more critical attitudes, and this is explained by the concept of relative deprivation. Soldiers’ satisfaction with their assignments was also explained to perhaps vary based on factors such as age, marital status, and rank and soldiers could have different desires, such as using their civilian skills, learning new skills, gaining status, and avoiding death or danger. Mission and satisfaction are explained as being directly related to military success. These studies are based on important data that have taken into account such factors such as education, age, and marital status for understanding soldiers’ attitudes toward their duties and army rules, as well as their status, and job satisfaction. This type of research can be concluded to play an important role in improving cohesion and satisfaction within the army and enabling soldiers to perform better.
TAS was a major social science study of the behavior, attitudes, and experiences of American soldiers during World War II. The results from the study provided important insights for military policy makers and social theorists, and TAS drew a number of conclusions based on soldiers’ perceptions of leadership, social control, rank, and experience:
Attitudes toward leadership. The study found new recruits to have more positive attitudes toward officers compared to soldiers who’ve served longer. TAS also found soldiers’ positive attitudes toward officers to be more prevalent in combat units.
Education level and attitudes. Soldiers with higher levels of education were found to have less-positive attitudes toward officers than soldiers with lower levels of education. Soldiers with higher levels of education were also found to be less convinced of the importance of certain tasks and more sensitive to lacking status.
The role of non-commissioned officers (NCOs). NCOs are defined as a group that facilitates and bridges communication between officers and enlisted personnel.
Social control issues. Just like the society from which soldiers had been recruited, the US Army also had problems with racial discrimination. This reflected the military’s compromises on race relations and inequalities in society.
Point System. As a result of the research, a demobilization plan was developed that took into account factors such as length of overseas service, number of children, and length of military service.
TAS has been recognized as an important milestone in social science and has contributed greatly to the development of social science. TAS was a comprehensive research project that examined the experiences of American soldiers during and after World War II. The results provided a wealth of important information for military policymakers, social scientists, and other researchers and also contributed to the development of research methods in the social sciences.
