Intricate Rituals: Why Men Join the Military

Why do men enlist despite the many dangers and high costs associated with being a soldier? Militaries, especially those belonging to local and global hegemons, rely on enlistment—thus, investigating this question is an essential part of understanding interstate violence and the phenomena of war itself. In this thesis, I apply a queer mode of analysis to examine the motivations of men who decide to join non-conscription militaries. Ultimately, I argue that the desire for homosocial connection—which is stymied in civilian life—drives men to enlist due to the possibility of connection with other men in military life. I analyze nearly 40,000 posts from soldiers across the world, paying close attention to themes of homosocial intimacy. Additionally, I conduct close readings of military recruitment advertisements from the last century, finding that militaries explicitly leverage the promise of homosocial connection in order to recruit new soldiers.