Mmpbl/560 Socio-Geographic Factors Paper

Running Head: SOCIO-GEOGRAPHIC FACTORS

MMPBL/560

Socio-Geographic Factors in U.S. Military

C. Onur Atacan

University of Phoenix

Socio-Geographic Factors in U.S. Military

Introduction

The United States Military is one of the largest and most influential organizations in the U.S. The military is a total institution and for the most part distinct from the larger society. Recruits are physically and psychologically detached from their own backgrounds and from society overall. Their needs are met, identities formed, and values instilled, all within the confines of a military post. There are several branches of the military such as Marines, Air force, Navy, and Army. There is also the Coast Guard operating under the Homeland Security. The paper tries to identify and define the classes within the military and how each class is determined, the work values of each class, and how geographic mobility has an effect on the organization, and describe the regional variations of the military and how it affects planning.

Classes

“Class, or socioeconomic status (SES), permeates our social behavior and thought. Income and education correlate with job security and satisfaction, family size, political attitudes, and cultural values” (Kottak & Kazaitis, 2003, p. 213). Groupings of individuals with similar social and economic positions within a society’s stratification system make up a social class. Classifications like upper-upper class, lower-middle class, and working class help us understand the differential access to strategic resources and the cultural variation and stratification that result from it. People who share certain characteristics, for example, income and education, tend to pursue similar lifestyles. In today’s multicultural society, classes tend to be more internally different.

Class affiliations are supposedly irrelevant in a training cycle in U.S. Military where personal possessions are completely identical. A person’s socially constructed race is...