Integration in army and nation: An essay in institutional permeability

Sociologists have identified two indicators of the possible weakening of civilian control over the military in democratic societies. One of these is the departure from "specificity," that is, the enlargement of the range of tasks in which the army is engaged. The other is "isolation," the extent to which social relations and values inside the armed forces are distinct and self-contained. The data derive from a study of the attitudes and activities of Israeli soldiers in the areas of leisure and communication. The functional importance of primary relations must be placed in the perspective of other socializing media in assessing the ways in which values and needs are nurtured in modern society. Soldier-respondents were asked to report on their exposure and use of the media of mass communication both as estimated by themselves and as obtained from their "time budgets".