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Some Cultural Aspects of the Military Profession

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  28 July 2009

Francesco Kjellberg
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Extract

It is the purpose of this paper to consider some of the features of the military officer-corps which make for its uniqueness compared to other professional groups. In spite of the lack in Norway of any militaristic tradition, the corps appears in many ways distinct from the main body of society. To a greater extent than within other occupations, there seems to be a tendency toward uniformity among the military officers on the basis of particular ideals and values. This characteristic has often been related to the supposed social composition of the group. There has been a widely shared assumption that military officers have been recruited from a rather limited milieu, and particularly, that the group has been highly self-recruited. As far as the Norwegian Army officers are concerned, the data about their social background do not support this view. It seems relevant, therefore, to relate the singularity of the group to its educational aspects. Before entering on the main theme of this paper, however, some comment on the social composition might be appropriate.

Type
Armed Forces and Society in Western Europe
Information
European Journal of Sociology / Archives Européennes de Sociologie , Volume 6 , Issue 2 , November 1965 , pp. 283 - 293
Copyright
Copyright © Archives Européenes de Sociology 1965

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References

(1) About 59% among lawyers, 58% among medical doctors and 50% among ministers. All data in the paper on the other professions are taken from Aubert, Vilhelm et al. , Akademikere i Norsk Samfunnsstruktur (The Professions in the Norwegian Social Structure), Tidsskrift for Samfunnsforskning, I (1960), 185–204.Google Scholar

(2) Aubert, Vilhelm, The Professions as a System of RolesGoogle Scholar, unpublished manuscript.

(3) Aubert, Vilhelm, op. cit.Google Scholar; cf. also Merton, Robert K., The Student-Physician (Cambridge, Harvard Univ. Press., 1957), p. 41.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

(4) Christensen, Colonel Sophus, Var Haer, Organ for the Norwegian Army Officers (1918), p. 139.Google Scholar

(5) The point has earlier been suggested by Norbert Elias. Cf. Elias, Norbert, The Genesis of the Naval Profession, The British Journal of Sociology, I (1950), 291–309.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

(6) Major Ruge, Carl, N.M.T. [Norwegian Military Review] (1947), p. iii.Google Scholar

(7) Lieutenant Col. Egge, Bjorn, N.M.T. (1956), p. 36.Google Scholar

(8) Captain Per Ottestad, N., N.M.T. (1948). p. 459.Google Scholar

* This paper is the result of a study within a larger research project on the Norwegian professions. The project was conducted under grants from the Rockefeller Foundation and the Norwegian National Research Council and has been led by Professor Vilhelm Aubert, whom the author wishes to thank for valuable criticism and advice.