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This version was published on July 1, 2008
Armed Forces & Society, Vol. 34, No. 4, 682-713 (2008)
DOI: 10.1177/0095327X07310336

The Privileges of Rank

The Peacetime Draft and Later-life Attainment

Alair MacLean

Washington State University Vancouver, maclean{at}vancouver.wsu.edu

This article examines the effects of peacetime cold war military service on the life course according to four potentially overlapping theories that state that military service (1) was a disruption, (2) was a positive turning point, (3) allowed veterans to accumulate advantage, and (4) was an agent of social reproduction. The article argues that the extent to which the effect of military service on veterans' lives corresponds with one or another of the preceding theories depends on historical shifts in three dimensions: conscription, conflict, and benefits. Military service during the peacetime draft era of the late 1950s had a neutral effect on the socioeconomic attainment of enlisted veterans. However, it had a positive effect on veterans who served as officers, which partly stemmed from status reproduction and selection. Yet net of pre-service and educational differences by rank, officers in this peacetime draft era were still able to accumulate advantage.

Key Words: social inequality • military service • life course • military rank


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