Charles Moskos
{{Short description|American sociologist (1934–2008)}}
{{Infobox person
| name = Charles Moskos
| image =
| alt =
| caption =
| birth_name = Charles Constantine Moskos, Jr.
| birth_date = {{Birth date|1934|05|04}}
| birth_place = Chicago, Illinois
| death_date = {{Death date and age|2008|05|31|1934|05|04}}
| death_place = Santa Monica, California
| nationality = American
| education = Princeton University (BA)
University of California, Los Angeles (MA, PhD)
| other_names =
| occupation = Sociologist and professor
| years_active =
| known_for =
| notable_works =
}}
Charles Constantine Moskos Jr. (May 20, 1934 – May 31, 2008) was an American sociologist of the United States military and a professor at Northwestern University. Described as the nation's "most influential military sociologist" by The Wall Street Journal, Moskos was often a source for reporters from The New York Times, The Washington Post, Los Angeles Times, Chicago Tribune, USA Today, and other periodicals. He was the author of the "don't ask, don't tell" (DADT) policy, the compromise which allowed homosexual service members to serve, but prohibited them from acknowledging their sexual orientation from 1994 to 2011.
Biography
Moskos was born May 20, 1934, in Chicago, Illinois, to ethnic Greek parents who migrated to the U.S. from the Greek-inhabited village of Çatistë, Ottoman Empire (modern-day Albania).{{Cite book |last=Moskos |first=Charles C |url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/5264709 |title=Greek Americans: struggle and success |date=1980 |publisher=Prentice-Hall |isbn=978-0-13-365106-5 |location=Englewood Cliffs, N.J. |page=127 |quote= My parents were born Ottoman subjects of Greek ethnic stock in what is today Albania. |oclc=5264709}} In his book Greek Americans: Struggle and Success,Transaction Publications, 2001 which he jokingly called "his bestseller" bought only by Greek Americans, he recalled that his father, christened Photios, adopted the name Charles after pulling it out of a hat full of "slips with appropriately American-sounding first names."
He attended Princeton University, where he graduated cum laude in 1956, on tuition scholarship and waited tables to pay for room and board. He was drafted into the U.S. Army right after graduation in 1956. Moskos served with the Army's combat engineers in Germany where he wrote his first article, "Has the Army Killed Jim Crow?" for the Negro History Bulletin. After leaving the military, he enrolled at UCLA, where he earned his master's and doctoral degrees in 1963.
Career
His first teaching job was at the University of Michigan, but he was soon recruited to Northwestern University, where he was one of the most popular sociology professors in the school.{{cite news | last = Taubeneck | first = Anne | title = All That He Can Be | publisher = Northwestern | date = Spring 2002 | url = http://www.northwestern.edu/magazine/northwestern/spring2002/features/allthathecanbe/index.htm | accessdate = 2007-01-21 }} "Students rush to his classes to hear enthralling lectures peppered with cheesy jokes and anecdotes," the Daily Northwestern recalled in a May 2008 editorial, written the month before his death. "They may be drawn by his famed don't-ask-don't-tell military policy, but they stick around to experience his grandfather-like interactions that make every student feel personally addressed."
Along with a number of other notable Greek Americans, he was a founding member of the Next Generation Initiative, a leadership program aimed at getting students involved in public affairs.
Moskos took many research trips to war-torn countries. He visited American troops in Vietnam (1965 and 1967); the Dominican Republic (1966); Honduras (1984); Panama (1989); Saudi Arabia (1991); Somalia (1993); Haiti (1994); North Macedonia (1995); Hungary (1996); Bosnia and the Serb Republic (1996 and 1998); Kosovo (2000); Kuwait, Qatar, and Iraq (2003). Non-American military visits include: United Nations Force in Cyprus (1969–70), Italian Army in Albania (1994), Greek Army in Bosnia (1998), British Army in Iraq (2003).
Moskos also advocated restoring the military draft. He insisted that enforcing a shared military experience for Americans of different classes, races and economic backgrounds forged a sense of common purpose. "This shared experience helped instill in those who served, as in the national culture generally, a sense of unity and moral seriousness that we would not see again -- until after September 11, 2001," he wrote in a November 2001 article in Washington Monthly (with Paul Glastris). "It's a shame that it has taken terrorist attacks to awaken us to the reality of our shared national fate."
Charles Moskos was a respected source for the military and the media and his influence in the military went very high. Military commanders such as Gen. James L. Jones, the U.S. Marine Corps commandant, and Gen. Gordon R. Sullivan, former U.S. Army chief of staff, regularly sought his advice. In 2005 Moskos completed a study for the Joint Chiefs of Staff on international military cooperation.
He was author of several books, including The American Enlisted Man, The Military - More Than Just A Job?, Soldiers and Sociologists, The New Conscientious Objection, A Call To Civic Service, and Reporting War When There Is No War. He was also the author of All That We Can Be: Black Leadership And Racial Integration The Army Way, which won the Washington Monthly award for the best political book of 1996. In addition, he published well over one hundred articles in scholarly journals and news publications such as The New York Times, The Washington Post, Chicago Tribune, Atlantic Monthly, and the New Republic. His work has been translated into nineteen languages.{{cite web |title=Charles Moskos |url=https://sociology.northwestern.edu/people/faculty/in-memoriam/charles-moskos.html |website=Northwestern University Department of Sociology |publisher=Northwestern University}} He was a leading figure in the field of civil-military relations.
In addition, he was consulted by Presidents Bill Clinton and George H.W. Bush and testified before Congress on issues of military personnel policy several times. In 1992, he was appointed by Bush to serve on the Presidential Commission on the Assignment of Women in the Military. He was decorated by the governments of the United States, France, and the Netherlands for his research and held the Distinguished Service Medal, the U.S. Army's highest decoration for a civilian. Moskos also contributed to the creation of the domestic service organization AmeriCorps in 1993. He served as President (1989–1995) and Chair (1989–1997) of the Inter-University Seminar on Armed Forces and Society.
Don't ask, don't tell
What Moskos called his "real fame" came when he coined the phrase "don't ask, don't tell".File:DADT enters the Zeitgeist Prior to 1993.jpg In 1993, to help break an impasse between the Clinton administration and military leadership over the status of gays in the military, Moskos devised a compromise policy and coined the phrase "don't ask, don't tell". Originally suggested as "Don't Ask, Don't Tell, Don't Seek, Don't Flaunt" to Senate Armed Forces Committee Chairman Senator Sam Nunn, it was eventually shortened to "don't ask, don't tell". Secretary of Defense Les Aspin approved the policy, and it was recommended to the President. In the following months, Moskos worked with the White House, the Armed Forces, and the Senate Armed Forces Committee to draft the policy, which eventually was adopted.{{Cite web |title=Moskos, Charles C. 1934–2008 |url=https://www.encyclopedia.com/arts/educational-magazines/moskos-charles-c-1934-2008 |access-date=2022-08-17 |website=Encyclopedia.com}} Moskos recognized that it was an imperfect solution, but one that could work if effectively enforced. Underlying his position was Moskos's strong conviction that all Americans should serve their country equally, including politicians' offspring and practitioners of alternative lifestyles.
In 2000, Moskos told academic journal Lingua Franca that he felt the "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policy would be gone within five to ten years. He criticized the unit cohesion argument, the most frequent rationale for the continued exclusion of gay and lesbian service members from the U.S. military. Instead he argued that since "modesty rights" require that women have separate bathrooms and showers, heterosexuals also had modesty rights: "I should not be forced to shower with a woman. I should not be forced to shower with a gay."{{cite news | last = Frank | first = Nathaniel | title = The Real Story of Military Sociology and 'Don't Ask, Don't Tell' | publisher = Lingua Franca | pages = 71–81 | date = October 2000 | url = http://www.military-education.org/newsclips/2005_1122_ChicagoFree.html | accessdate = 2006-08-09 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20071006150056/http://www.military-education.org/newsclips/2005_1122_ChicagoFree.html | archive-date = 2007-10-06 | url-status = dead }}Independent Gay Forum: [http://www.indegayforum.org/news/show/27103.html Paul Varnell, "DADT Unravels Further," November 22, 2000] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060916003546/http://www.indegayforum.org/news/show/27103.html |date=September 16, 2006 }}, accessed April 4, 2012 Moskos's comments were met with outrage by gay activists and Northwestern University students who argued that his fear of being eyed in the shower was not sufficient justification for denying equal rights to gay men and lesbians.{{cite web |url=https://dailynorthwestern.com/2008/06/25/archive-manual/the-scar-on-the-moskos-legacy/ |publisher=The Daily Northwestern |title=The scar on the Moskos legacy |author= Jackson, Peter |date=24 June 2008 }}
Influence on military sociology
Charles Moskos was a leading figure in the field of Military Sociology. He was a prolific scholar who had a knack for spotting trends in military organizations. He is particularly known for the Institutional/Occupational Dichotomy (I/O Model) and his contribution to the Postmodern Military model.Shields P.M. (2020) Dynamic Intersection of Military and Society. In: Sookermany A. (eds) Handbook of Military Sciences p. 4. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-02866-4_31-1
Moskos introduced the Institutional/Occupational Dichotomy in the late 1970s.Moskos, C. (1977). From institution to occupation: Trends in military organization. Armed Forces & Society, 4, 41–50. By that time, the United States had completed its transition from the draft to an All-Volunteer Force. Market and market mechanisms were beginning to have a profound influence on military organizations. Moskos showed how the armed forces was losing its institutional characteristics and moving toward an occupational or marketplace oriented model (soldier residence and workplace separation, increased reliance on contractors, and recruitment based on appeals to pay and benefits are examples). He wrote many influential articles and books on the subject.Moskos, C. C. (1986). Institutional/occupational trends in armed forces: An update. Armed Forces & Society, 12(3), 377-382.Moskos, C. C., & Wood, F. R. (Eds.). (1988). The military: More than just a job?. Pergamon-Brassey The Institutional/Occupational dichotomy has had a lasting and international influence on the literature on enlistment motivation.Taylor, J. K., Clerkin, R. M., Ngaruiya, K. M., & Velez, A.-L. K. (2015). An Exploratory Study of Public Service Motivation and the Institutional–Occupational Model of the Military. Armed Forces & Society, 41(1), 142–162. https://doi.org/10.1177/0095327X13489119Woodruff, T. D. (2017). Who Should the Military Recruit? The Effects of Institutional, Occupational, and Self-Enhancement Enlistment Motives on Soldier Identification and Behavior. Armed Forces & Society, 43(4), 579–607. https://doi.org/10.1177/0095327X17695360Bury, P. (2017). Recruitment and Retention in British Army Reserve Logistics Units. Armed Forces & Society, 43(4), 608–631. https://doi.org/10.1177/0095327X16657320Aydiner, C., Orak, U., & Solakoglu, O. (2019). What Factors Influenced Turkish Military Officers’ and NCOs’ Motivation to Serve Prior to the July 2016 Coup Attempt? Armed Forces & Society. https://doi.org/10.1177/0095327X19841663
At the end of the Cold War, Moskos, alongside John A. Williams and David R. Segal, identified another trend in military organization, referred to as the Postmodern Military Model (PMMM).Moskos, C. (1998) The American Soldier after the Cold War: Towards a Post-Modern Military? US Army Research Institute for the Behavioral and Social Sciences (ARI). https://apps.dtic.mil/sti/pdfs/ADA354194.pdf The threat environment eased considerably with the disbanding of the Soviet Union. The perceived threat moved from nuclear attack or enemy invasion to threats such as terrorism or ethnic conflict. Moskos and colleagues noted that as this shift occurs, it brings changes to a military's force structure, personnel, and it's relationship to society.{{Citation |last1=Karalekas |first1=Dean |title=Moskos's Postmodern Military Model |date=2018-01-01 |url=https://doi.org/10.1108/978-1-78756-479-420181002 |work=Civil-Military Relations in Taiwan |pages=11–40 |publisher=Emerald Publishing Limited |doi=10.1108/978-1-78756-479-420181002 |isbn=978-1-78756-482-4 |access-date=2022-05-10 |last2=Karalekas |first2=Dean}} As seen in the post-Cold War period, the definition of defense moved from a consistent support of the alliance to new missions such as peacekeeping. Civilian employees and contractors grew in importance. Full integration of women and gays became a norm. Conscientious objection was subsumed under civilian service.Moskos, C. (2000) Toward a Postmodern military: The United States as a Paradigm. In Moskos, C. C., Williams, J. A., & Segal, D. R. (Eds.).The postmodern military: Armed forces after the Cold War. p. 15. Oxford University Press The wars in Iraq and Afghanistan changed the threat environment yet again, leading to the emergence of a "hybrid" model beyond the post-modern era. Although many of the characteristics of the postmodern military identified by Moskos remained, many others changed to adapt to the new types of emerging threats.Williams, J.A. (2008). The Military and Society: Beyond the Postmodern Era. Orbis. 52, 2 pp. 199-218. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.orbis.2008.01.003
Moskos' book on the postmodern military model, co-authored with John Allen Williams and David Segal, The Postmodern Military: Armed Forces After the Cold War, remains among his most influential.Moskos, C. C., Williams, J. A., & Segal, D. R. (Eds.). (2000). The postmodern military: Armed forces after the Cold War. Oxford University Press on Demand. {{ISBN|978-0195133295}}Bondy, H. (2004). Postmodernism and the Source of Military Strength in the Anglo West. Armed Forces & Society, 31(1), 31–61. https://doi.org/10.1177/0095327X0403100103Snider, D. (2000). America's Postmodern Military. World Policy Journal, 17(1), 47-54. Retrieved August 9, 2020, from www.jstor.org/stable/40209676Webster, J. E. (2019). Resisting Change: Toxic Masculiniity in the Post Modern United States Armed Forces,(1980s-Present). University of Central Oklahoma.Shields, P. M. (2011). An American Perspective on 21st Century Expeditionary Mindset and Core Values: A Review of the Literature. In Furst, H. and G. Kummel (Eds.) Core values and the expeditionary mindset: Armed forces in metamorphosis (pp. 15-35). Nomos Verlagsgesellschaft mbH & Co. KG. {{ISBN|978-3832965143}}. https://www.academia.edu/32990468/An_American_Perspective_on_21st_Century_Expeditionary_Mindset_and_Core_Values_A_Review_of_the_Literature
Personal life
He met his German wife Ilca, a foreign language teacher, while studying at the University of California, Los Angeles. He retired from full-time teaching in 2003 and moved to Santa Monica, returning to Northwestern each fall to teach an introductory sociology course. His wife taught foreign languages at New Trier High School. They had two sons, Peter, a professor at John Jay College of Criminal Justice and Andrew, co-founder of Boom Chicago in Amsterdam. His brother, Harry Moskos of Knoxville, Tennessee, was editor of the Knoxville News Sentinel.
Moskos was a recipient of the American Hellenic Institute's Hellenic Heritage Achievement Award and was a life-long member of the American Hellenic Educational Progressive Association.{{Cite web |date=2006-06-05 |title=Professor Charles Moskos Appointed AHIF Senior Fellow of Greek American Studies |url=https://www.greeknewsonline.com/professor-charles-moskos-appointed-ahif-senior-fellow-of-greek-american-studies/ |access-date=2022-08-17 |website=Greek News |language=en-US}}
Moskos died on May 31, 2008, at his home in Santa Monica, California.{{Cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2008/06/05/us/05moskos.html?_r=0|title = Charles Moskos, Policy Adviser, Dies at 74|newspaper = The New York Times|date = 5 June 2008|last1 = Martin|first1 = Douglas}} His wife wrote: "Charles C. Moskos, of Santa Monica, Calif, formerly of Evanston, Ill, draftee of U.S. Army, died peacefully in his sleep after a struggle with prostate cancer."{{cite web|last=Fassler |first=Joe |url=https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2008/06/charlie-moskos/8073/ |title=Charlie Moskos - James Fallows |publisher=The Atlantic |date=2008-06-01 |accessdate=2014-05-02}}
Selected writings
- "[http://afs.sagepub.com/cgi/reprint/4/1/41 From Institutions to Occupation: Trends in Military Organization]," Armed Forces & Society, vol. 4 (1977), 41–50
- With Morris Janowitz, "[http://afs.sagepub.com/cgi/reprint/1/1/109 Racial Composition in the All-Volunteer Force]," Armed Forces & Society, vol. 1 (1974), 109–123
- "[http://afs.sagepub.com/cgi/content/abstract/12/3/377 Institutional/Occupational Trends in Armed Forces: An Update]," Armed Forces & Society, vol. 12 (1986), 377–382
- With Morris Janowitz, "[http://afs.sagepub.com/cgi/reprint/5/2/171 Five Years of the All-Volunteer Force: 1973–1978]" Armed Forces & Society, vol. 5 (1979), 171–218
- [http://dmr.bsu.edu/cdm4/document.php?CISOROOT=/BSUPrvstLec&CISOPTR=769&REC=1 "National service in America: an idea whose time is coming,"] Perspectives on culture and society, vol. 1 (1988), 63–80
- Moskos, Charles C. Greek Americans: Struggle and Success Englewood Cliffs, N.J.: Prentice-Hall, 1980. {{OCLC| 5264709}}
- Moskos, Charles C. Institution Versus Occupation: Contrasting Models of Military Organization. Washington, D.C.: Wilson Center, International Security Studies Program, 1981. {{OCLC|14169476}}
- Moskos, Charles C. Peace Soldiers: The Sociology of a United Nations Military Force. Chicago : University of Chicago Press, 1976. {{ISBN|0-226-54225-4}} {{OCLC| 1527429}}
- Moskos, Charles C. Public Opinion and the Military Establishment. Beverly Hills, Calif. : Sage Publications, 1971. {{ISBN|0-8039-0116-X}} {{OCLC| 154044}}
- Moskos, Charles C. Soldiers and Sociology. [Alexandria, Va.]: United States Army Research Institute for the Behavioral and Social Sciences, 1988. {{OCLC| 22209585}}
- Moskos, Charles C. The American Enlisted Man; The Rank and File in Today's Military. New York: Russell Sage Foundation, 1970. {{OCLC| 109458}}
- Moskos, Charles C. Greek Orthodox Youth Today: A Sociological Perspective. In, 'Greek Orthodox Youth Today', Edited by N.M.Vaporis. Brookline: Holy Cross Orthodox Foundation, 1983. {{ISBN | 0-916586-56-1}}
- Moskos, Charles C. The Sociology of Army Reserves: An Organizational Assessment. Evanston, IL: Northwestern University, 1990. {{OCLC| 23067904}}
Legacy
The academic community published a tribute volume of essays in 2009, entitled Advances in Military Sociology: Essays in Honour of Charles C. Moskos.{{cite book|title=Advances in Military Sociology: Essays in Honour of Charles C. Moskos, Part A (Contributions to Conflict Management, Peace Economics and Development): Dr Giuseppe Caforio, Manas Chatterji: 9781848558908: Amazon.com: Books |date=2009-12-04 |isbn = 978-1848558908|last1 = Caforio|first1 = Giuseppe}}
The Pritzker Military Museum & Library holds his book collection. His papers are held nearby at Northwestern University.{{cite web|url=http://www.pritzkermilitary.org/explore/collection-highlights/named-collections/charles-moskos-collection/ |title=Dr. Charles C. Moskos Collection | Pritzker Military Museum & Library | Chicago |publisher=Pritzkermilitary.org |date= |accessdate=2014-05-02}}
See also
Notes
{{Reflist}}
Further reading
- Caforio, Giuseppe, and Charles Constantine Moskos. Advances in Military Sociology : Essays in Honor of Charles C. Moskos Pt. A. Bingley [u.a.]: Emerald, 2009. {{ISBN|1-84855-890-2}} {{ OCLC | 838018738}}
External links
- [https://web.archive.org/web/20060906111318/http://www.wcas.northwestern.edu/sociology/faculty/moskos/home.html Northwestern University]
- [http://www.defenselink.mil/news/May2000/n05302000_20005303.html American Forces Press Service]
- [http://www.charlesmoskos.com/ Personal Web Site]
- [http://www.depauw.edu/news/index.asp?id=14051 Lecture at DePauw University, September 30, 2004]
- [http://www.pritzkermilitary.org/whats_on/pritzker-military-presents/front-center-john-callaway-one-on-one-charles-moskos/ Interview] at the Pritzker Military Museum & Library
- {{C-SPAN|7431}}
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Category:University of California, Los Angeles alumni
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