Lack of diversity and inclusion within the military and subtle and overt expressions of prejudice by its members has broad effects on the culture and operations of the armed forces. Limited representation of its personnel influences the ability to recruit women, individuals of different ethnocentric backgrounds, gender or sexual orientations. It can prevent the sense of belonging for those within the armed forces who do not fit the male, masculine stereotype, and can limit the diversity of ideas and solutions for optimum performance. How inclusive the military is can be reflected in the attitudes and behaviours demonstrated by its personnel which can exclude or include others in the day-to-day operations of the organization as well as influence whether unique opportunities are provided to all members. Prejudice subsumes diversity and inclusion, influencing team cohesion, retention, job satisfaction, performance, bullying, harassment, and willingness to seek assistance. Although many militaries, at least on the surface, attempt to encourage and embrace differences, military psychological values, mind-set, and ethos can create obstacles for progress.
The nature of diversity, inclusion, and prejudice affects the core function of many militaries as they strive to maintain traditional ways of operating and being, yet also wish to embrace a progressive work environment. For many militaries, gaining broader representation within their forces, reducing harassing and bullying behaviours, decreasing negative attitudes towards minority groups, and encouraging help-seeking, requires facing overt and inherent obstacles that are ingrained in military cultures and the civilian cultures they serve. Society and culture is changing rapidly and military institutions are often slow to follow suit, creating discord between civil servants and military members, organizational institutions and the military, public perceptions of the military, and within the military itself. The goal of this Research Topic is to bring together research addressing issues of prejudice, stigma, diversity, and inclusion within the military to gain a greater understanding of the sources of those problems, and ways to address them.
There is limited empirical and theoretical work addressing these problems within the military culture that is unique and isolated. Contributions may include (but are not limited to) research addressing:
- Antecedents and consequences of prejudice in the military. These can include, but are not limited to various forms of prejudice and discrimination. For example, discrimination towards certain outgroup members, sexism, harassment, bullying, mental health stigma, ageism, transphobia, homophobia, sizeism
- Assessment of different forms of discrimination, inclusion, and prejudice in the armed forces
- Moral and ethical study of prejudice within the military
- Programs designed to reduce prejudice, discrimination and promote inclusion
- Leadership, allyship and bystander intervention behaviours and their impact on inclusion
- Understanding civilian/military interactions
We invite researchers to present their work addressing these issues in a variety of formats: Brief Research Report, Conceptual Analysis, Mini Review, Original Research, Registered Report, Review, Systematic Review
Lack of diversity and inclusion within the military and subtle and overt expressions of prejudice by its members has broad effects on the culture and operations of the armed forces. Limited representation of its personnel influences the ability to recruit women, individuals of different ethnocentric backgrounds, gender or sexual orientations. It can prevent the sense of belonging for those within the armed forces who do not fit the male, masculine stereotype, and can limit the diversity of ideas and solutions for optimum performance. How inclusive the military is can be reflected in the attitudes and behaviours demonstrated by its personnel which can exclude or include others in the day-to-day operations of the organization as well as influence whether unique opportunities are provided to all members. Prejudice subsumes diversity and inclusion, influencing team cohesion, retention, job satisfaction, performance, bullying, harassment, and willingness to seek assistance. Although many militaries, at least on the surface, attempt to encourage and embrace differences, military psychological values, mind-set, and ethos can create obstacles for progress.
The nature of diversity, inclusion, and prejudice affects the core function of many militaries as they strive to maintain traditional ways of operating and being, yet also wish to embrace a progressive work environment. For many militaries, gaining broader representation within their forces, reducing harassing and bullying behaviours, decreasing negative attitudes towards minority groups, and encouraging help-seeking, requires facing overt and inherent obstacles that are ingrained in military cultures and the civilian cultures they serve. Society and culture is changing rapidly and military institutions are often slow to follow suit, creating discord between civil servants and military members, organizational institutions and the military, public perceptions of the military, and within the military itself. The goal of this Research Topic is to bring together research addressing issues of prejudice, stigma, diversity, and inclusion within the military to gain a greater understanding of the sources of those problems, and ways to address them.
There is limited empirical and theoretical work addressing these problems within the military culture that is unique and isolated. Contributions may include (but are not limited to) research addressing:
- Antecedents and consequences of prejudice in the military. These can include, but are not limited to various forms of prejudice and discrimination. For example, discrimination towards certain outgroup members, sexism, harassment, bullying, mental health stigma, ageism, transphobia, homophobia, sizeism
- Assessment of different forms of discrimination, inclusion, and prejudice in the armed forces
- Moral and ethical study of prejudice within the military
- Programs designed to reduce prejudice, discrimination and promote inclusion
- Leadership, allyship and bystander intervention behaviours and their impact on inclusion
- Understanding civilian/military interactions
We invite researchers to present their work addressing these issues in a variety of formats: Brief Research Report, Conceptual Analysis, Mini Review, Original Research, Registered Report, Review, Systematic Review
