While reading through a couple of threads from the Pit and GD, I recall reading an argument about whether or not certain soldiers are worthy of respect and admiration. Being not too attached to either side, this mostly led me to a different inquiry.
Has there ever been a study quantifying mercenary tendencies in the general American population?
At one point, someone asked whether a soldier who signs up for a military career solely for the financial and social benefits is a morally righteous person. I would submit that, of course, as in any society, there are likely relatively large numbers of people who have a tendency toward mercenary behavior. All I really need to do to verify that is to look at my co-workers past and present Not to mention mercenaries are not exactly a rare commodity in human history.
But I get the feeling that many Americans operate under an assumption that mercenary tendencies are wildly aberrant in the general population. I’m a bit more cynical, so are there any studies? I Googled for it, but all I received was a bunch of links for video games!
Critics of “Western Culture” have frequently pointed to a “Mercenary” attitude as a sign of decline in culture. There’s loads of books on the subject and thousands of blogs, but I’ve never heard of any proper scientific study on the subject.
I don’t know how you’d approach a scientific study of this. I guess opinion polls of people’s motivations for their actions might do it, but it’s all subjective, isn’t it?
What do you mean by mercenary tendencies? You seem to be getting very broad in your OP. It seems like you are equating the word mercenary with the word capitalist. If you mean just joining the military than that was rehashed in the thread you mentioned. As was stated over and over since someone didn’t want to listen, in the opinion of everyone on this board with military experience those that join the military for strictly monetary gain are few and far between. Especially since the money sucks. The desire to be able to make enough to take care of your family while doing a difficult job does not equal a mercenary attitude in my book. Please clarify.
I suspect that anyone with two brain cells to rub together would figure out pretty quick that there are much easier ways of making money than joining the services.
If you mean “what percentage of the population would volunteer for unpaid military service” then I bet it’s a pretty damn small number, but that doesn’t mean the other soldiers are mercenaries.
Is wanting to get paid for your work a “mercenary” attitude? Is wanting a raise in pay (which is usually seen as a reward for good performance) a “mercenary” attitude? Should we be selfless, and work for free, solely for the good of society?
Well, if one takes the term “mercenary” very broadly, the Department of Defense does these types of studies constantly, especially when it comes to retention bonuses (i.e., the Navy has a great need for keeping experienced nuclear engineers who can earn lots of money in the private sector, therefore the Navy offers larger and larger cash bonuses to keep them in the service).
But I take issue with this use of the term mercenary, as it is a pejorative term. The dictionary defines a mercenary as one who serves for purely monetary reasons, such as to the exclusion of national allegiance. I think you’ll find very few Americans who view military service as having no connection to ones’ allegiance, but certainly there are those who see military benefits as convincing them that enlisting is a good idea.
Perhaps the OP should clarify whether he is asking whether there are studies of service members for whom national allegiance means nothing, or whether there are studies about the “price points” at which more Americans will choose military service.
Actually, I just posted it before I went on a short vacation to Sokcho to eat some delicious sea food.
My fault for not helping to define the question better:
By “mercenary tendencies” I mean the effective point for any given individual where monetary/social rewards overrule their moral objection to providing a service they would otherwise morally object to. That’s not just militarily. Specifically, do most people have such a tipping point? For the low end of the spectrum, what’s the ratio?
It seems like a difficult study to do. Self-reporting would be the most obvious survey choice, but who really wants to think that they have a tipping point?
In the case of an actual study, how many people admitted to and defined such a point?
We have these theoretical questions all the time with certain friends. Seeing as how it’s such a common question at the interpersonal level, I’d be surprised if there haven’t been attempts to quantify it.
Ravenman’s study about cash bonuses is close to what I’m talking about, but isn’t it exactly because it doesn’t ask about the moral beliefs of the engineers. R’s example doesn’t qualify in this case. And, no, I don’t have any particular stance on mercenaries that are military or otherwise.
Secondary to this question is whether there is an actual military mercenary population in the US. I think that’s a fair question, and I would think that we definitely would. I don’t mean current soldiers serving under the US armed forces auspices, but freelance mercenaries who take “jobs” ala the movies.
We’re verging into off-topic here, but in the end they’re getting paid to serve our government’s needs.
That’s not all that different than a standard soldier.
In the end, the equation for the run of the mill Blackwater staff is:
Do Army guy stuff, get money.
One could discuss the fiscal motivations of Blackwater management, but that is certainly not germane to this discussion. If we go there, we’ll have to discuss the motives of Ford management, General Electric management etc, which everyone realizes is off-topic.
Oh, I thought I should define this, too. In this case, I was thinking more of cutthroat office environments. A survey that would be relevant would ask a question like:
And would move on to other questions of more serious and less serious moral implications. This isn’t the only kind of study I’m reaching for, though. I’m interested in the topic as a whole, so the pure economics of it are also of interest. I guess, in this sense, “mercenary tendencies” is really being defined as material/social self-interest trumping moral considerations. It’s not purely about money, but also about social praise and benefits.
Not to mention mercenaries are not exactly a rare commodity in human history.