Sociological approaches to war and the military : a discussion.

Abstract

This study explores the dialectical interplay between war, the military and society. It is an analytical survey of the main sociological literature on the subject; through the classical, modern, as well as global and postmodern writings. It also discusses the concepts and themes promoted by the European and American Schools of military sociology. It suggests that a theoretical intersection point between Weber, Karl Marx, C. Wright Mills, and Zygmunt Bauman remains focal and seminal in the sociological interpretation of the reflexive impact of war and the military on society. It concludes by arguing that completing a framework of explanation, on war and military, remains a challenge for sociologists, or sociological theory.