The study of the relationship between armed forces and society in the University of Maryland Department of Sociology was introduced during World War II by the late Professor Peter Lejius and expanded between the Korean and Vietnam wars by the late Professor Charles Coates, who joined the faculty in 1955. He established courses in Military Sociology and the Sociology of War. In collaboration with Roland J. Pellegrin he also wrote the first textbook in military sociology
In the early 1970s, as America was re-evaluating the military role it had played in Southeast Asia in the 1960s, a number of new faculty members with interests in peace, war, and military organization were added to the department. In the mid-1970s, the major research focus of the program was the end of military conscription and the establishment of the all-volunteer military force. Through the 1980s, with the volunteer force well institutionalized, our focus shifted to the role that the U.S. military was beginning to adopt in peacekeeping operations, and to the increasingly timely and important issues of the ongoing process of gender integration in armed forces and of the work-family interface in the military context.
In the 1990s, concerns with the maintenance of a large standing force were being replaced by a focus on the nature of armed forces in the post-Cold War world. In 1995, the Center for Research on Military Organizations was established as a center of excellence in military sociology. The establishment of the Center recognized both the contribution that military sociology has made to military personnel management since World War II, and the unique role that military sociology has occupied in the University of Maryland’s Department of Sociology, where a focus on military organization had been central to the research program and the curriculum since the mid-1950s.
During the late 1990s, the Center began to focus on the emerging issues of peacekeeping, gender integration, and work-family adaptation as well as the role of the military in Eastern Europe and the third world, asymmetric warfare, and in organizational down-sizing and base closings in the industrial nations.
Our current research program continues to focus on diversity in the military, leadership, the manning of the force, and the consequences of service over the lifecourse.
In the early 1970s, as America was re-evaluating the military role it had played in Southeast Asia in the 1960s, a number of new faculty members with interests in peace, war, and military organization were added to the department. In the mid-1970s, the major research focus of the program was the end of military conscription and the establishment of the all-volunteer military force. Through the 1980s, with the volunteer force well institutionalized, our focus shifted to the role that the U.S. military was beginning to adopt in peacekeeping operations, and to the increasingly timely and important issues of the ongoing process of gender integration in armed forces and of the work-family interface in the military context.
In the 1990s, concerns with the maintenance of a large standing force were being replaced by a focus on the nature of armed forces in the post-Cold War world. In 1995, the Center for Research on Military Organizations was established as a center of excellence in military sociology. The establishment of the Center recognized both the contribution that military sociology has made to military personnel management since World War II, and the unique role that military sociology has occupied in the University of Maryland’s Department of Sociology, where a focus on military organization had been central to the research program and the curriculum since the mid-1950s.
During the late 1990s, the Center began to focus on the emerging issues of peacekeeping, gender integration, and work-family adaptation as well as the role of the military in Eastern Europe and the third world, asymmetric warfare, and in organizational down-sizing and base closings in the industrial nations.
Our current research program continues to focus on diversity in the military, leadership, the manning of the force, and the consequences of service over the lifecourse.
