Military as a Coercive and Total Institution in Society
This paper examines the military as a prime example of a coercive, assimilating, and total institution. Drawing on sociological frameworks, it distinguishes between utilitarian, normative, and coercive institutions before analyzing how the military enforces conformity, subsumes individual identity, and operates under its own separate legal and social structures. The paper also compares the military's roles and functions with those of other institutions, such as the media, and considers how nationalism itself may function as a total and coercive force. The analysis draws on Dornbusch's (1955) foundational work on military academies as assimilating institutions.
- Types of Institutions: Utilitarian, Normative, and Coercive: Taxonomy of institutional types with coercive examples
- The Military as a Coercive and Assimilating Institution: How military enforces conformity and shared identity
- The Military as a Total Institution with Separate Rules: Separate military justice system and civilian distinctions
- Comparing Institutional Roles: The Military and the Media: Military versus media functions and subculture depth
- Conclusion: Nationalism as a Total Institution: Nationalism framed as coercive and assimilating force
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What makes this paper effective
- The paper opens with a clear taxonomy of institutional types before narrowing to its central case study, giving readers the conceptual framework needed to follow the analysis.
- Concrete examples — uniforms, hairstyles, rank, separate court systems, and priority boarding — ground abstract sociological concepts in observable reality.
- The comparative move in the final section, contrasting the military with the media and then expanding to nationalism, demonstrates analytical range beyond the initial case study.
Key academic technique demonstrated
This paper demonstrates the technique of concept application: it introduces established sociological categories (coercive, assimilating, total institution) and systematically applies them to a real-world institution. By testing each defining feature of "total" institutions against military examples, the paper builds its argument inductively and avoids unsupported assertions.
Structure breakdown
The paper moves from broad taxonomy (types of institutions) to focused case study (the military as coercive and total), then to institutional comparison (military vs. media), and finally to a conceptual extension (nationalism as a total institution). This funnel-then-expand structure is efficient for a short analytical essay and ensures each section builds logically on the last.
Types of Institutions: Utilitarian, Normative, and Coercive
Institutions can be utilitarian, normative, or coercive. Coercive institutions are relatively easy to identify in that they have strict rules of membership and maintain tight control over members. Many coercive institutions are also "assimilating" in nature, in that they depend on the indoctrination of members. Cults are examples of coercive and assimilating institutions, and so is the military. These are both also "total" institutions because they create a self-contained society or subculture that exists separately and relatively independently from the dominant culture. In addition to cults and the military, there are only a few other overt examples of coercive institutions, including some educational institutions and criminal justice institutions for convicted felons, such as prisons. Although large organized religions like Christianity and Islam can be perceived at times as being "total," as well as assimilating and coercive, they are generally more normative in their nature and function.
The Military as a Coercive and Assimilating Institution
The military provides the most accessible example of a coercive institution. Once an individual decides to enlist, he or she must conform to certain rules and standards of behavior that set the person apart from civilian society. As Dornbusch (1955) puts it, the function of the military academy is "to make officers out of civilians," through a concerted process of assimilation (p. 316). Assimilation occurs in a number of different ways: through the creation of a sense of shared mission and values usually linked to patriotism, honor, and duty. Individuals are socially coerced into remaining a part of the organization and would be shamed if they left it with a "dishonorable discharge." Through their uniforms and the creation of a uniform appearance in hairstyle, military officers develop a "total" subculture that subsumes individual identity. When a person is home on leave, he or she switches identity to the role of wife, sister, husband, or son. Within the military institution, however, that person's role is strictly defined by rank.
Conclusion: Nationalism as a Total Institution
It is therefore easy to see how nationalism becomes a "total," "coercive," and "assimilating" institution in its own right.
References
Dornbusch, S. M. (1955). The military academy as an assimilating institution. Social Forces, 33(4), 316–321.
Lardner, R. (2015, November 21). Military shields child sex abuse. Montgomery Advertiser.
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