Finding purpose, challenge and adventure - military service as meaningful work
Finding purpose, challenge and adventure - military service as meaningful work
This chapter concerns the motivations for and circumstances under which
young men in the United Kingdom (UK) joined the British Armed Forces, and
considers the subjective meaning of work in the military; in particular, in the
context of military service as a form of voluntary risk-taking or edgework (Lyng
1990). I discuss the pathways to military service: what attracted the respondents
to military service and why they chose it over other forms of education and
employment. I also explore the biographical contexts in which the decision to
join the armed forces was made and what form of learning and skills acquisition
the military offers. My main findings indicate that a mix of intrinsic and extrinsic
factors attracted the young men to join the military and that they valued the
opportunities they found there for personal growth and camaraderie, which they
juxtaposed with the highly individualised work of contemporary late-modern
societies. I conclude that subjectively meaningful work must be examined
through a life-course perspective, which allows us to understand the decisions
and circumstances for joining—as well as leaving—the armed forces, and how
military life differs from civilian work and life.
meaningful work, veterans, motivation for edgework, life-course perspective
49-68
Roth, Silke
cd4e63d8-bd84-45c1-b317-5850d2a362b6
4 June 2021
Roth, Silke
cd4e63d8-bd84-45c1-b317-5850d2a362b6
Roth, Silke
(2021)
Finding purpose, challenge and adventure - military service as meaningful work.
In,
Kupfer, Antonia
(ed.)
Work Appropriation and Social Inequality.
Wilmington, Delaware.
Vernon Press, .
Record type:
Book Section
Abstract
This chapter concerns the motivations for and circumstances under which
young men in the United Kingdom (UK) joined the British Armed Forces, and
considers the subjective meaning of work in the military; in particular, in the
context of military service as a form of voluntary risk-taking or edgework (Lyng
1990). I discuss the pathways to military service: what attracted the respondents
to military service and why they chose it over other forms of education and
employment. I also explore the biographical contexts in which the decision to
join the armed forces was made and what form of learning and skills acquisition
the military offers. My main findings indicate that a mix of intrinsic and extrinsic
factors attracted the young men to join the military and that they valued the
opportunities they found there for personal growth and camaraderie, which they
juxtaposed with the highly individualised work of contemporary late-modern
societies. I conclude that subjectively meaningful work must be examined
through a life-course perspective, which allows us to understand the decisions
and circumstances for joining—as well as leaving—the armed forces, and how
military life differs from civilian work and life.
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Roth 2021 Chapter 3 Veterans meaningful work
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Published date: 4 June 2021
Keywords:
meaningful work, veterans, motivation for edgework, life-course perspective
Identifiers
Local EPrints ID: 450412
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/450412
PURE UUID: 0e423978-3b55-46da-9f8d-6c5d4033938f
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Date deposited: 27 Jul 2021 17:24
Last modified: 17 Mar 2024 03:05
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Contributors
Editor:
Antonia Kupfer
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