‘You’re just chopped off at the end’: Retired servicemen’s identity work struggles in the military to civilian transition
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‘You’re just chopped off at the end’: Retired servicemen’s identity work struggles in the military to civilian transition. / Williams, Rachel K; Allen-Collinson, Jacquelyn; Hockey, John; Evans, Adam B.
In: Sociological Research Online, Vol. 23, No. 4, 2018, p. 812-829.Research output: Contribution to journal › Journal article › Research › peer-review
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TY - JOUR
T1 - ‘You’re just chopped off at the end’: Retired servicemen’s identity work struggles in the military to civilian transition
AU - Williams, Rachel K
AU - Allen-Collinson, Jacquelyn
AU - Hockey, John
AU - Evans, Adam B.
N1 - CURIS 2018 NEXS 282
PY - 2018
Y1 - 2018
N2 - Promoting positive transition to retirement and cultural adaption for ex-service personnel has been identified as a priority for both social-science research and for public health policy in the UK. The Royal British Legion aims to provide support to service and retired service personnel, but to date the transition to retirement experiences of older (60-plus) ex-service personnel remain under-researched. In this article, we employ a symbolic interactionist theoretical framework to examine older servicemen’s experiences and identity challenges post-retirement from the British armed forces. Data were collected primarily through semi-structured, focus-group interviews with 20 former servicemen. Here, we focus specifically upon the challenges encountered by these ex-servicemen in the retirement transition from military to civilian life, a time of identity flux of sociological interest. To navigate this period of identity change and challenge, many participants constructed a ‘modified military self’ through involvement with the Royal British Legion as a key social support network. For many retired personnel the Royal British Legion offered a form of identification and group identity that resonated strongly with earlier experiences of comradeship in the military.
AB - Promoting positive transition to retirement and cultural adaption for ex-service personnel has been identified as a priority for both social-science research and for public health policy in the UK. The Royal British Legion aims to provide support to service and retired service personnel, but to date the transition to retirement experiences of older (60-plus) ex-service personnel remain under-researched. In this article, we employ a symbolic interactionist theoretical framework to examine older servicemen’s experiences and identity challenges post-retirement from the British armed forces. Data were collected primarily through semi-structured, focus-group interviews with 20 former servicemen. Here, we focus specifically upon the challenges encountered by these ex-servicemen in the retirement transition from military to civilian life, a time of identity flux of sociological interest. To navigate this period of identity change and challenge, many participants constructed a ‘modified military self’ through involvement with the Royal British Legion as a key social support network. For many retired personnel the Royal British Legion offered a form of identification and group identity that resonated strongly with earlier experiences of comradeship in the military.
KW - Faculty of Science
KW - Ageing
KW - Identity work
KW - Military
KW - Symbolic interactionism
KW - Transition
U2 - 10.1177/1360780418787209
DO - 10.1177/1360780418787209
M3 - Journal article
VL - 23
SP - 812
EP - 829
JO - Sociological Research Online
JF - Sociological Research Online
SN - 1360-7804
IS - 4
ER -
ID: 200870480