Military Families: Topography of a Field

Over the past decades, debates revolving around the role and challenges of military families have developed into an important subfield in military sociology. Throughout history, military families have played an important role for military forces, and in the post-World War II era, the role of the family has shifted as a consequence of military professionalization. Research on military families explores the different demands placed upon service members from both the military organization and the family. More recently, such research has studied how the inclusion of women and gender minorities, operational deployments, and broader societal changes transformed the composition, stakes, and challenges of military families and the traditional idea of the military spouse.