This paper analyzes military families as the intersection of two societal institutions, both of which make great demands on individuals in terms of commitment, loyalty, time, and energy. It shows the increasing conflict between these two "greedy institutions' due to various trends in American society and military family patterns. The demands that American armed forces make on members and their families are described, including the risk of injury or death, geographic mobility, family separations, residence in foreign countries, and normative constraints on the behavior of spouses and children. Also discussed are trends that are increasing the potential military/family conflict, including general changes in women's roles in society (especially labor force participation) and specific changes in military family patterns, such as increases in the number of married junior enlisted personnel, sole parents, active duty mothers, and dual-service couples. Actual and potential military adaptations to these changes are considered, with particular attention to their implications for institutional and occupational trends in the military.

This article outlines a theory of what affects the degree and nature of women's participation in the armed forces throughout history and across nations. Examining national security situations, military technology, military accession policies, demographic patterns, cultural values regarding gender, and structural patterns of gender roles, the article proposes a systematic theory of the conditions under which women's military roles expand and contract. The theory is then applied to analyze women's likely future role in armed forces. The military's need for personnel has been the driving force behind expansion of women's military roles through history and across nations, but cultural values supporting gender equality also contribute and seem likely to have increased influence in the future.

This article analyzes the effects of organizational support for families on the organizational commitment of male enlisted Army soldiers and their wives. Organizational support is measured as perceptions of the supportiveness of both formal Army level policies and informal unit leader practices towards families. Results of our path analysis indicate that perceptions of the supportiveness of both formal policies and informal practices have significant independent effects on the organizational commitment of soldiers. In addition, perceptions of the supportiveness of unit leader practices have significant effects on the organizational commitment of soldiers' wives. For both soldiers and wives, family support also has significant positive indirect effects on commitment, through reduced Army-family conflict. We suggest specific organizational policies and practices that can increase soldiers' and spouses' commitment to the military through support of families.

The relationship between propinquity and interpersonal attraction was studied in a field setting. Place in alphabetical order was used as an unobtrusive (and conservative) measure of propinquity. The effect of proximity on friendship choice among 44 Maryland State Police trainees was found to be stronger than the effects of a wide variety of other characteristics that have been identified in the literature as determinants of interpersonal attraction.

Recent literature in military sociology is reviewed in the context of theories regarding increasing rationality on the part of societies, organizations, and individuals. Models that emphasize individualistic orientations to military service are compared with models that assume a more collectivistic orientation. Attention is paid to the shift from a mobilization-based armed force to a force in being, and to the convergence between military and civilian organizations. Several consequences of the rationalization of the military are considered, including potential changes in willingness to fight, military unionization, changes in professionalism, the substitution of management for leadership, increased utilization of women, and dependence on research, including social science research.