Parachuting

Aran, Gideon

doi:10.1086/225764

Cited by 29 publications

(11 citation statements)

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“…As a result, Durkheim argues that the logical systems of rites and totems reproduce the unity of society; they create solidarity. More recent research on social rituals has confirmed Durkheim's observations, both in non-military (Meyer and Rowan 1977;Goodin 1980) and military contexts (Aran 1974;Zurcher 1965;Winslow 1999). However, despite their prominence in officer's memoirs, (Caputo 1977;Hennessey 2009) there has been little attention on the impact of formal military rituals on officers' social relations.…”

Section: The Barossa Night Ritualmentioning

confidence: 89%

Barossa Night: cohesion in the British Army officer corps

Bury

2016

British Journal of Sociology

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Contrasting the classical explanation of military group cohesion as sustained by interpersonal bonds, recent scholars have highlighted the importance of ritualized communication, training and drills in explaining effective military performance in professional armies. While this has offered a welcome addition to the cohesion literature and a novel micro-sociological method of examining cohesion, its primary evidential base has been combat groups. Indeed, despite their prominent role in directing operations over the past decade, the British Army's officer corps has received relatively little attention from sociologists during this period. No attempt has been made to explain cohesion in the officer corps. Using a similar method to recent cohesion scholars, this paper seeks to address this imbalance by undertaking a micro-sociology of one ritual in particular: 'Barossa Night' in the Royal Irish Regiment. Firstly, it draws on the work of Durkheim to examine how cohesion amongst the officer corps is created and sustained through a dense array of practises during formal social rituals. It provides evidence that the use of rituals highlights that social solidarity is central to understanding officer cohesion. Secondly, following Hockey's work on how private soldiers negotiate order, the paper shows how this solidarity in the officer corps is based on a degree of negotiated order and the need to release organizational tensions inherent in a strictly hierarchical rank structure. It highlights how the awarding of gallantry medals can threaten this negotiated order and fuel deviancy. In examining this behaviour, the paper shows that even amongst an officer class traditionally viewed as the elite upholders of organizational discipline, the negotiation of rank and hierarchy can be fluid. How deviant behaviour is later accepted and normalized by senior officers indicates that negotiated order is as important to understanding cohesion in the British Army's officer corps as it is amongst private soldiers.

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Section: The Barossa Night Ritualmentioning

confidence: 89%

Barossa Night: cohesion in the British Army officer corps

Bury

2016

British Journal of Sociology

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“…27 Finally, choices like wanting to challenge and test oneself fit into Aran's and Weiss' self-induced pathology characterization of combat soldiers. 28 Alternatively, the more ''occupational'' reasons for enlisting include categories that have been described in the literature and which are more pragmatic in aim, speaking to financial stability or escaping economic and/or social marginalization. 29 Figure 1 shows that there is a clear correlation between an individual's combat or support status and whether one's top reason for enlisting reflects occupational or institutional incentives.…”

Section: Original Reasons For Enlistingmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Dynamic Lives and Static Institutions of the “Two Armies”

Burland

Lundquist

2011

Armed Forces & Society

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The U.S. Army consists of two distinct functional components: soldiers serving in combat roles, on the one hand, and those who serve in support positions, on the other. Do these two functionally distinct segments differ culturally as well? Empirical researchers utilizing qualitative methods have supported a ''Two Armies'' concept. This article examines the phenomenon quantitatively by using a nationally representative sample of the active duty population. The authors find that there is a statistically significant difference between support and combat soldiers that holds even after taking into account differing demography. Interestingly, this is true mainly of White soldiers, and the authors find that it is driven by premilitary, civilian socialization. This dataset also clearly shows that, for most soldiers, the split between the two segments of the Army tends to diminish over time, with combat and support soldiers sharing more similar motivations with one another later in their terms of service.

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“…Participants have been described as stimulus addicts (Ogilvie, 1974), sensation seekers (Zuckermann, 1971(Zuckermann, , 1979Zuckermann et al, 1972;Hymbaugh and Garret, 1974), thrill seekers (Klausner, 1966;Greenberg, 1977), action seekers (Aran, 1974), and edgeworkers (Lyng and Snow, 1986;Lyng, 1990). As a recreation, skydiving is often the central feature in participant's lives, its attraction being the eeting moments of exhilaration, an illusion of omnipotence and as an opportunity for the sensation of supreme grati cation (Aran, 1974). Accounts of veteran skydiving emphasize the experience of the activity rather than the technicalities of the jump.…”

Section: The Literaturementioning

confidence: 99%

The relevance of the peak experience to continued skydiving participation: a qualitative approach to assessing motivations

Lipscombe¹

1999

Leisure Studies

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A qualitative paradigm was used to determine the relevance of the peak experience as a factor of continued involvement in skydiving participation. Data sets from the literature, an interview process, and personal documents were collected, coded, analysed and interpreted for the purpose of understanding the nature of the skydiving experience. The research, which indicated the frequency and signi cance of a 'peak experience' to skydivers, provided an insight into the nature of the skydiving experience and the signi cance and importance of the experiential component for continued participation. The three sources of data relating to the skydiving experience provided a similarity across all respondents to such a degree that it was possible to conclude that a 'peak experience' was a common experience among veteran skydivers. So rewarding was the peak that it represented the most important factor explaining why veteran skydivers continued to jump.

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Parachuting

Cited by 29 publications

References 0 publications

Barossa Night: cohesion in the British Army officer corps

Barossa Night: cohesion in the British Army officer corps

The Dynamic Lives and Static Institutions of the “Two Armies”

The relevance of the peak experience to continued skydiving participation: a qualitative approach to assessing motivations

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