Cultural practices and artifacts, in their multiple and varied forms, are grounded on values, which are so deeply internalized by people that usually remain in the background, as taken-for-granted guides for interpretations and decisions in everyday life. Shaping individual moral horizons is at the core of socialization processes, through which older generations aim to disseminate their culturally established values to the new ones, making use of suggestions mainly implicit in daily experiences and interactions.
Despite the strength of these processes of cultural canalization, people find particular ways of positioning and interpreting social suggestions, drawing singular life trajectories and developing themselves as unique beings. This is truthful also in case of highly institutionalized settings like the military, in which people play in many forms an agentic role in their own development, being prepared to perform their professional duties in very complex and challenging activity contexts.
This book is an invitation to dive deeper into human experiences lived in the military through qualitative and in-depth approaches, observing their affective qualities, the meanings they acquire and how they shape individuals’ identities, fostering the development and try-out of specific ethical and moral values.
The present work can contribute to research and professional practice in fields related to human development, social processes, education and people management in the military, as well as in other institutional contexts, especially by highlighting the affective, meaningful and moral-ethical dimensions of cultural experiences.
Table of Contents:
Series Editor's Preface - Ordinary Heroes: The Making of the Military Mind; Jaan Valsiner.
Introduction: A Cultural Psychological Approach of Values in Military Lives; Daniela Schmitz Wortmeyer.
Part I. Cultural Canalization Of Values: Social Practices Of Military Socialization.
Chapter 1. Cultural Canalization of Values in Brazilian Military Socialization; Daniela Schmitz Wortmeyer.
Chapter 2. Myth-Criticism and Myth-Analysis of Warrior Education in Literary Works: From The Iliad to The Bridge Over the River Kwai; Suzana Marly da Costa Magalhães.
Chapter 3. Ritual and Military Socialization; Joanna Wojtkowiak.
Part II. Processes Of Values Development: Subjective Dimensions Of Military Socialization.
Chapter 4. Composing Watercolors in the Barracks: Values Development as Affective-Semiotic Generalization; Daniela Schmitz Wortmeyer.
Chapter 5. Unification with the Military Institution: Analysis of a Singular Trajectory of Values Development; Daniela Schmitz Wortmeyer.
Chapter 6. Being the Same Different: Resistance, Agency, and Change in Military Socialization; Daniela Schmitz Wortmeyer.
Chapter 7. Development of Values in the Context of Military Socialization: A Reflection From a Life-Course Developmental Perspective; Mariann Märtsin.
Part III. Values In Practice: Challenges To Military Lives In The International Arena.
Chapter 8. Ethical Reflections of a Military Commander in International Operations; Carlos Alberto dos Santos Cruz.
Chapter 9. Moral Complexities of Military Deployment: Dutch Soldiers' Experiences of Value Conflict and Moral Injury; Tine Molendijk.
Chapter 10. After so Much Is Invested in Creating Robust Military Identities, What About the Construction of Fulfilling Civilian Identities After Service? Jan Grimell.
Chapter 11. The Moral-Ethical Dimension of Human Psychology: Values, Cultural Practices, and the Coconstruction of Peace; Angela Uchoa Branco.
About the Contributors.
