- Between weeks 8 and 12, each student should provide a weekly reflection (500 words) on the data you have collected to date.
- What data did you collect?
- What is your initial impression of the data?
- How have the data you have collected this week changed/progressed your thinking about your research project?
- What challenges did you encounter while collecting the data?
- What are your next steps?
Annotated Bib
- Regan, Patrick M. 1994.“War Toys, War Movies, and the Militarization of the United States, 1900-85.” Journal of Peace Research, vol. 31, no. 1, pp. 45–58. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/425582.
Regan’s piece will be especially helpful as it argues for a fairly paradoxical, simultaneously latent and prevalent pattern between the trends of US militarization and corresponding public attitudes towards increases in military spending and the potential for imminent armed conflict, and then the popularity and increased presence of military movies and military toys as well as pro-military rhetoric in the news media. There is a lot to unpack here, and while there is not an explicitly discussed aspect of neoliberalism, the consumption and mass production of military culture is a theme I see throughout the piece. As a JSTOR article alone, I do not dispute the credibility of the work, but on the top of that, I have read Regan for other courses and the article itself is riddled with citations. The piece is definitely intended for scholars, specifically those within the fields of sociology, anthropology and social research in general, based on its language, but at the same time, there exists a sense of accessibility within the piece.
- Giroux, Henry A. 2008. “The Militarization of US Higher Education after 9/11.” Theory, Culture & Society, 25(5), 56–82. https://doi.org/10.1177/0263276408095216
Giroux’s piece was enjoyable to read as it argued that the coincidental intersection of increasingly precarious financial situations at universities across the US and 9/11 and the corresponding rapid increase in military spending and push for positive military rhetoric caused an intersection between two arenas (higher education and the US government) and an eventual contortion of what the mission of higher education should be in the first place. The usefulness for me of course is the neoliberal economic system which two to three decades before created a condition for universities would be forced to compete far more aggressively with one another and the business models of these institutions were forced streamline with the intention of maximizing efficiency and improving their bottom lines. Giroux goes on to explain that universities accepted significant government subsidies and in response, were forced to promote a general positive attitude towards the US military and its rising aggression towards the Middle East. Citations are heavily incorporated in the piece and an extensive bibliography is listed, further emphasizing its validity. Compared to the Regan piece, Giroux utilizes a more formal, academic style and form. Both pieces will be quite useful for me as they bring totally different information regarding militarized society within the neoliberal framework
Reflection:
I am pleased with the data that I have collected during this first week and I now feel confident that I will be able to glean a wide variety of information these first couple of weeks that will eventually promote a thesis that is backed by diversified evidence. The Regan piece stands out to me a potentially very useful as it describes the militarization of popular culture, specifically Hollywood and the toy industry, as these in conjunction touch all age demographics across our country. American’s are known to be worshipers of the culture of consumption and thus, to latently promote the validity and almost “coolness” of the military and war is highly effective in garnering public support for the US military’s actions abroad. Looking ahead, I will plan to research quantitive data within this realm, hoping to incorporate statistics describing spikes in the number of military themes Hollywood productions, video games and toys. This will undoubtedly require a fair amount of searching but I believe the potential effectiveness of showing these trends will be impactful for my end piece. Next, the Giroux piece was interesting as I previously had never read or even was aware of this intersection of higher education and the US government’s perpetual push to create positive public sentiment surrounding the military. This aspect and the role of neoliberalism as the underlying catalyst which promoted the union, offers further evidence of the ubiquitousness of 21st century US militarization. I am pleased that I found this piece. My next steps will be to continue to cast a wide net, seeking to find credible and illuminating pieces which speak to the ways in which US culture in general is shaped by US militarization. As I continue to find independent examples which I deem to be potentially effective within my end paper, I will seek to research them more individually, attempting to find further validating evidence and possibly statistical backing. A challenge I foresaw in doing my initial sweep of academic databases is that this history is immense and in the quest for strength within my research, I have decided to focus solely on the late 20th century into 9/11 and then the 21st century. I believe this narrowed focal point of study will be ultimately quite beneficial.
I am glad to see that you now have a narrower focus. Yet, you should still eventually justify why you want to focus on post 9/11 specifically and how is this related to neoliberalism. The relationship between neoliberalism and military is indeed evident in Giroux’s piece and you should see if you can find more sources like that. Also, the book that we will start discussing on Wednesday (Melinda Cooper) might help you frame your topic. The book is not about military or militarization but the relationship between the rise of biotechnologies and US imperialism. Yet it might still have some indirect relevance to your project.
Also, you can certainly make a connection between consumption and neoliberalism but make sure not to take the connection for granted as your sentence “Americans are known to be worshippers of the culture of consumption” might imply. This consumption culture is very much socially produced. There is definitely a strong connection between military expansion, consumption, and economic growth though.
In the same vein, if you have not seen this before, watch this video of Bush after 9/11.
Let me know if you have any questions or concerns.