Theorizing Desecularization of the Military: The United States and Israel

Yagil Levy

doi:10.1177/0095327X18806516

Theorizing Desecularization of the Military: The United States and Israel

Yagil Levy

Public Policy discipline

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

Abstract

This article addresses scholarly deficiencies in identifying the conditions under which the desecularization of militaries takes place. To theorize this process, two militaries are studied, the United States and Israel. Arguably, six drivers sequentially generate the desecularization of the militaries: (1) Militaries largely mirror the growing influence of religion in the broader society. However, intramilitary drivers play their role in promoting/mitigating the extra-military mechanisms of desecularization. Thus, (2) organizational interests along with external constraints drive militaries to promote religious diversity, which may (3) lead to the empowerment of religious actors, and thereby to further desecularization through religious intolerance, and to (4) reliance on the spiritual and religious services provided by military chaplains, and jointly stimulate (5) the use of religion to motivate military sacrifice. By religiously increasing the symbolic value of military sacrifice, (6) religiosity becomes more naturally associated with good soldiering, thereby reshaping intramilitary hierarchies and, hence, further triggering desecularization.

Original language	American English
Pages (from-to)	92-115
Number of pages	24
Journal	Armed Forces and Society
Volume	46
Issue number	1
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1177/0095327X18806516
State	Published - 1 Jan 2020

Bibliographical note

Funding Information:
I would like to thank the anonymous reviewers of Armed Forces & Society for helpful comments on the earlier version of this article. I am particularly grateful to the editor Patricia Shields for her valuable guidance. An earlier version of this article was presented at the Interim Conference of the Research Committee on Armed Forces & Conflict Resolution, International Sociological Association. I am grateful to the participants for their feedbacks. I would especially like to thank Ilana Kaufman and Lesley Marks for editorial assistance. The author disclosed receipt of the following financial support for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article: I acknowledge the financial support of The Open University of Israel's Research Fund (grant no. 37119).

Publisher Copyright:
© The Author(s) 2018.

Keywords

deprivatization
desecularization
military religious
religious diversity

Access to Document

10.1177/0095327X18806516

Cite this

@article{f48705406c7b40f1bd8b2304586b8bb3,

title = "Theorizing Desecularization of the Military: The United States and Israel",

abstract = "This article addresses scholarly deficiencies in identifying the conditions under which the desecularization of militaries takes place. To theorize this process, two militaries are studied, the United States and Israel. Arguably, six drivers sequentially generate the desecularization of the militaries: (1) Militaries largely mirror the growing influence of religion in the broader society. However, intramilitary drivers play their role in promoting/mitigating the extra-military mechanisms of desecularization. Thus, (2) organizational interests along with external constraints drive militaries to promote religious diversity, which may (3) lead to the empowerment of religious actors, and thereby to further desecularization through religious intolerance, and to (4) reliance on the spiritual and religious services provided by military chaplains, and jointly stimulate (5) the use of religion to motivate military sacrifice. By religiously increasing the symbolic value of military sacrifice, (6) religiosity becomes more naturally associated with good soldiering, thereby reshaping intramilitary hierarchies and, hence, further triggering desecularization.",

keywords = "deprivatization, desecularization, military religious, religious diversity",

author = "Yagil Levy",

note = "Funding Information: I would like to thank the anonymous reviewers of Armed Forces & Society for helpful comments on the earlier version of this article. I am particularly grateful to the editor Patricia Shields for her valuable guidance. An earlier version of this article was presented at the Interim Conference of the Research Committee on Armed Forces & Conflict Resolution, International Sociological Association. I am grateful to the participants for their feedbacks. I would especially like to thank Ilana Kaufman and Lesley Marks for editorial assistance. The author disclosed receipt of the following financial support for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article: I acknowledge the financial support of The Open University of Israel's Research Fund (grant no. 37119). Publisher Copyright: {\textcopyright} The Author(s) 2018.",

year = "2020",

month = jan,

day = "1",

doi = "10.1177/0095327X18806516",

language = "American English",

volume = "46",

pages = "92--115",

journal = "Armed Forces and Society",

issn = "0095-327X",

publisher = "SAGE Publications Inc.",

number = "1",

}

TY - JOUR

T1 - Theorizing Desecularization of the Military

T2 - The United States and Israel

AU - Levy, Yagil

N1 - Funding Information: I would like to thank the anonymous reviewers of Armed Forces & Society for helpful comments on the earlier version of this article. I am particularly grateful to the editor Patricia Shields for her valuable guidance. An earlier version of this article was presented at the Interim Conference of the Research Committee on Armed Forces & Conflict Resolution, International Sociological Association. I am grateful to the participants for their feedbacks. I would especially like to thank Ilana Kaufman and Lesley Marks for editorial assistance. The author disclosed receipt of the following financial support for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article: I acknowledge the financial support of The Open University of Israel's Research Fund (grant no. 37119). Publisher Copyright: © The Author(s) 2018.

PY - 2020/1/1

Y1 - 2020/1/1

N2 - This article addresses scholarly deficiencies in identifying the conditions under which the desecularization of militaries takes place. To theorize this process, two militaries are studied, the United States and Israel. Arguably, six drivers sequentially generate the desecularization of the militaries: (1) Militaries largely mirror the growing influence of religion in the broader society. However, intramilitary drivers play their role in promoting/mitigating the extra-military mechanisms of desecularization. Thus, (2) organizational interests along with external constraints drive militaries to promote religious diversity, which may (3) lead to the empowerment of religious actors, and thereby to further desecularization through religious intolerance, and to (4) reliance on the spiritual and religious services provided by military chaplains, and jointly stimulate (5) the use of religion to motivate military sacrifice. By religiously increasing the symbolic value of military sacrifice, (6) religiosity becomes more naturally associated with good soldiering, thereby reshaping intramilitary hierarchies and, hence, further triggering desecularization.

AB - This article addresses scholarly deficiencies in identifying the conditions under which the desecularization of militaries takes place. To theorize this process, two militaries are studied, the United States and Israel. Arguably, six drivers sequentially generate the desecularization of the militaries: (1) Militaries largely mirror the growing influence of religion in the broader society. However, intramilitary drivers play their role in promoting/mitigating the extra-military mechanisms of desecularization. Thus, (2) organizational interests along with external constraints drive militaries to promote religious diversity, which may (3) lead to the empowerment of religious actors, and thereby to further desecularization through religious intolerance, and to (4) reliance on the spiritual and religious services provided by military chaplains, and jointly stimulate (5) the use of religion to motivate military sacrifice. By religiously increasing the symbolic value of military sacrifice, (6) religiosity becomes more naturally associated with good soldiering, thereby reshaping intramilitary hierarchies and, hence, further triggering desecularization.

KW - deprivatization

KW - desecularization

KW - military religious

KW - religious diversity

UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85059101799&partnerID=8YFLogxK

U2 - 10.1177/0095327X18806516

DO - 10.1177/0095327X18806516

M3 - Article

AN - SCOPUS:85059101799

SN - 0095-327X

VL - 46

SP - 92

EP - 115

JO - Armed Forces and Society

JF - Armed Forces and Society

IS - 1

ER -

Theorizing Desecularization of the Military: The United States and Israel

Abstract

Bibliographical note

Keywords

Access to Document

Other files and links

Fingerprint

Cite this