How the Dirty Work of War Impacts Support for Veterans
Abstract
Every society has dirty work that has to get done what are the consequences of doing it? Despite public discourse to, support the troops, many post-9/11 veterans encounter social friction when reintegrating into civilian society. Using a factorial survey experiment, this study examines how members of the American public react to information about some ones military past when evaluating veterans for professional and social opportunities. Findings show that people exhibit outwardly positive baseline views towards veterans. Nevertheless, any allusion to the use of controlled violence the military's dirty work and raison d'tre strongly and negatively impacted veterans prospects. The social consequences of dirty work were not offset by mitigating circumstances and were especially penalizing when veterans sought positions involving close and sustained contact with civilians. By showing that people can simultaneously support and judge what someone did in the military, findings highlight the need to reexamine what society expects from the military and the people who serve it.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Mar 02, 2020
- Accession Number
- AD1222301
Entities
People
- Alexis A. Pang
Organizations
- Institute for Defense Analyses