Study of the Social Orgins of a United States Elite: The U.S. Army

摘要

This thesis addresses the issue of whether members of the Army elite have homogeneous social origins and if not, to what extent they are representative of the general population. Ever since the end of World War II, the United States has maintained a large standing army. For the first time in its history, it formed a large peacetime army and made commitments to many allies which guaranteed this army a long life. By the late 1950's many people, including several sociologists, began to study the military and the effects of the military on American society. The military as a social institution received extensive analysis. The study of social origins of the military elite should interest those in the field of stratification and mobility in that it would provide an important data base for comparing military elites with other professional elites. The social origins of 'typical' elites from various professions should be compared to see if certain ascribed characteristics are associated with elite status in our society and if so, further studied to determine how they lead to attainment of elite status.