The Dark Side of Defence: Masculinities and Violence in the Military

Militaries are institutions of violence. This chapter considers the dark side of military violence: violence within the military. While many criminological studies have attended to the violence and crime of, and within, environments of war, the study of the source of that violence, the military institution, has been neglected. This chapter draws upon the criminological literature of the dark side of organisations to argue violence within the military: hazing, brutalisation, and sexual assault of, and between service personnel, are a structured element of militarism. This is predominantly male violence and crime. By drawing upon critical gender studies and critical theory, the phenomenon of male violence within the military is considered along three key themes: the scission of civil and military, the production of violent subjectivities through military training, and the fraternal character of military masculinities and military organisation. These keywords were added by machine and not by the authors. This process is experimental and the keywords may be updated as the learning algorithm improves.