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The army — social mobility?

The army and other armed services — are truly paths for social mobility. But they don’t go upward, they go downward. The basic reasons are enumerated here: What’s wrong with legalized violence?

In view of those reasons, the question begins to sound a bit different: what to do with the enormous numbers of youth and men for whom the police and armed forces serve as

  • one option for managing their own aggression and underdevelopment;
  • a way to earn wages and secure their room and board;
  • a career, social recognition, and so on.

Examples of the most common options for peaceful employment, taking into account various aspects of masculine character, are given in Nonviolence in Action: Methods and Approaches, in the section on Economy and business (civic engagement, charitable work, etc.).

 

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