- Project Summary: In no more than 200 words, provide a brief description of your project, including the key questions your project attempts to answer and a brief discussion of how you intend to answer those questions.
- Deadline: March 1st Friday, 11:59 pm
For my final project, I plan to explore the effects of neoliberalism on the US military-industrial complex. I plan to incorporate both quantitative economic research as well as variety of academic pieces that speak to the shaping of US society as a both latently and explicitly militarized body. I will seek to reveal just how intertwined the military and the strength of the US economy has become, exploring the manufacturing and sale of actual arms and military equipment as well as militarized culture, like the film and video game industries. For reference, I will bring forth historical examples and anecdotes from other countries. My hope is that in the end, I will leave a sociologically-informed reader with a strong sense of the extent to which neoliberalism has proliferated the glorification of military culture, the crucial influence this industry has on the US economy’s health, and the ability to make informed predictions about the future of our hyper-militarized culture.
Comments:
This is an interesting topic, Devon. I do not know much about it and I look forward to reading it.
A couple of notes: Make sure to specify what aspects of neoliberalism you will focus on. I am saying this because as you know, the militarization of the US did not begin with neoliberalization and I assume that you want to analyze how militarization and neoliberalism have reinforced each other. Make sure that you are not defining neoliberalism too broadly and end up equating it with capitalism in general.
Also, it is not clear to me why you need to use “historical examples and anecdotes from other countries.” How is that related to your topic? Like other countries wherein the US military is powerful?
Try to formulate a few questions in which you are interested. Also, is this going to be library research?