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Effects Of Mechanical Institutionalization On Veteran Post-Service Re-Entry, Deidra Hubay

Undergraduate Research and Scholarship Symposium

Channeling the concepts of Emile Durkheim, this research will seek to explore the causes of post-service veteran anomie, with a specific focus on suicide. This research will preliminarily explore an institutional identity reconstruction process that recruits undergo during basic military training; I will refer to as Mechanical Institutionalization. In Mechanical Institutionalization, a recruit’s individual prior-service identity is replaced with an institutionalized group identity that is maintained by mechanical solidarity. Because of this, the beliefs, values, norms, and ethos of the individual have been fundamentally altered to conform to those of the institutional group. As a result, many veterans often struggle …