Constructing “Society’s Soldiers”: Identity Work, (Total) Defence Willingness and the Swedish Home Guard
This study aims to contribute to the understanding of how military organizations become involved in meaning-making and processes of identity-building as they seek to engage individuals in defence work. To this end, we focus on a specific understudied organization: the Swedish Home Guard (SHG), a key...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Scandinavian Military Studies
2025-01-01
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| Series: | Scandinavian Journal of Military Studies |
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| Online Access: | https://account.sjms.nu/index.php/sms-j-sjms/article/view/290 |
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| author | Jenny Malmström Joakim Berndtsson |
| author_facet | Jenny Malmström Joakim Berndtsson |
| author_sort | Jenny Malmström |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | This study aims to contribute to the understanding of how military organizations become involved in meaning-making and processes of identity-building as they seek to engage individuals in defence work. To this end, we focus on a specific understudied organization: the Swedish Home Guard (SHG), a key component of the country’s total defence, often seen as the epitome of defence willingness. The study addresses the following question: How are constructions of collective identity in Swedish Home Guard communication interlinked with larger political strategies to increase (total) defence willingness? The study is designed as a qualitative, exploratory case study of SHG communication based on a wide range of mainly textual and interview-based sources in which we analyse communication directed at both internal and external audiences. Analytically, we draw on theories of organizational, military, and collective social identity to probe identity-building strategies and how they relate to the idea of defence willingness. Addressing SHG communications, the study shows that being “willing” is associated with a number of desirable social, organizational and professional identity traits serving to widen the SHG role outside the boundaries of the traditional soldier identity. Further, we conclude how elements of Home Guard communication strategies, among them the construction of the “society’s soldiers” trope, act to prepare the Swedish public for defence participation by diminishing thresholds dividing military and society at large, introducing military defence as a concern and possibility for “anyone”. |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-3d70925a352d415db9a9d79fccaf6e93 |
| institution | Kabale University |
| issn | 2596-3856 |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2025-01-01 |
| publisher | Scandinavian Military Studies |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Scandinavian Journal of Military Studies |
| spelling | doaj-art-3d70925a352d415db9a9d79fccaf6e932025-02-11T05:42:29ZengScandinavian Military StudiesScandinavian Journal of Military Studies2596-38562025-01-01811–161–1610.31374/sjms.290283Constructing “Society’s Soldiers”: Identity Work, (Total) Defence Willingness and the Swedish Home GuardJenny Malmström0Joakim Berndtsson1https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1352-1158Swedish Centre for Studies of Armed Forces and Society (CSMS)University of GothenburgThis study aims to contribute to the understanding of how military organizations become involved in meaning-making and processes of identity-building as they seek to engage individuals in defence work. To this end, we focus on a specific understudied organization: the Swedish Home Guard (SHG), a key component of the country’s total defence, often seen as the epitome of defence willingness. The study addresses the following question: How are constructions of collective identity in Swedish Home Guard communication interlinked with larger political strategies to increase (total) defence willingness? The study is designed as a qualitative, exploratory case study of SHG communication based on a wide range of mainly textual and interview-based sources in which we analyse communication directed at both internal and external audiences. Analytically, we draw on theories of organizational, military, and collective social identity to probe identity-building strategies and how they relate to the idea of defence willingness. Addressing SHG communications, the study shows that being “willing” is associated with a number of desirable social, organizational and professional identity traits serving to widen the SHG role outside the boundaries of the traditional soldier identity. Further, we conclude how elements of Home Guard communication strategies, among them the construction of the “society’s soldiers” trope, act to prepare the Swedish public for defence participation by diminishing thresholds dividing military and society at large, introducing military defence as a concern and possibility for “anyone”.https://account.sjms.nu/index.php/sms-j-sjms/article/view/290defence willingnessswedish home guardtotal defencecollective identityidentity work |
| spellingShingle | Jenny Malmström Joakim Berndtsson Constructing “Society’s Soldiers”: Identity Work, (Total) Defence Willingness and the Swedish Home Guard Scandinavian Journal of Military Studies defence willingness swedish home guard total defence collective identity identity work |
| title | Constructing “Society’s Soldiers”: Identity Work, (Total) Defence Willingness and the Swedish Home Guard |
| title_full | Constructing “Society’s Soldiers”: Identity Work, (Total) Defence Willingness and the Swedish Home Guard |
| title_fullStr | Constructing “Society’s Soldiers”: Identity Work, (Total) Defence Willingness and the Swedish Home Guard |
| title_full_unstemmed | Constructing “Society’s Soldiers”: Identity Work, (Total) Defence Willingness and the Swedish Home Guard |
| title_short | Constructing “Society’s Soldiers”: Identity Work, (Total) Defence Willingness and the Swedish Home Guard |
| title_sort | constructing society s soldiers identity work total defence willingness and the swedish home guard |
| topic | defence willingness swedish home guard total defence collective identity identity work |
| url | https://account.sjms.nu/index.php/sms-j-sjms/article/view/290 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT jennymalmstrom constructingsocietyssoldiersidentityworktotaldefencewillingnessandtheswedishhomeguard AT joakimberndtsson constructingsocietyssoldiersidentityworktotaldefencewillingnessandtheswedishhomeguard |