Psychiatry

Interpersonal and Biological Processes

ISSN: 0033-2747 (Print) 1943-281X (Online) Journal homepage: http://www.tandfonline.com/loi/upsy20

The Social Dynamics of Physical Disability in Army

Basic Training

David M. Schneider

To cite this article: David M. Schneider (1947) The Social Dynamics of Physical Disability in Army
Basic Training, Psychiatry, 10:3, 323-333, DOI: 10.1080/00332747.1947.11022650

To link to this article: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/00332747.1947.11022650

Published online: 11 Nov 2016.

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 The Social Dynamics of Physical Disability
in Army Basic Training
David M. Schneider*
I
W HETHER THE "NORMAL-ABNORMAL" DICHOTOMY has any scientific
validity hardly seems to matter if one scans the literature which has come
out of army experience in the latest war. By and large the reports have been con-
cerned with psychiatric casualties, neurotic break-downs, war neuroses, and so on.
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Only a few of the briefest reports have been oriented toward the other half of the
dichotomy, the "normal." Needless to say, this imbalance is quite understandable,
even if hard to justify, in terms of who was assigned to what job in the army. Psy-
chiatrists did psychiatric work in the army. Anthropologists and sociologists did
pretty much as they were told, which was rarely sociology or anthropology.
Nevertheless, measured by the volume of published reports, we know infinitely
more about the "abnormal" than we do about the "normal" in the army. The primary
purpose of this paper is the analysis of one small segment of the much larger picture
of the "normal." This paper presents, first of all, a description of what "normally"
happens to certain "abnormal" people-people in army basic training who have phy-
sical disabilities but are not hospitalized and remain in the group. Secondly, a brief
analysis of these data is undertaken.
Army basic training 1 may be regarded he said, what was done and what was
as a period during which initial adjust- said to him, what he expected and what
ment of the civilian personality to army he received, what he gave and what he
culture took place. The adjustment was a withheld took place within the group.
continuous process, and even the most cas- Initial adjustment to army life ap-
ual observation of a group of men in their peared, to this observer, to depend pri-
first day of basic and on their graduation marily on the ways in which the newly
day impressed one with the changes that inducted soldier met the many problems
had taken place. which, for analytic convenience, may be
This adjustment process took place in organized into three broad groups: one,
a group. The lonely, ill-at-ease, cautious the disposition of the affectional relation-
recruit was unceremoniously placed in a ships and needs which characterized his
barracks with forty to sixty other men. civilian life; two, the method of meeting
With these men-his platoon-he ate, the heightened demands on his mascu-
slept, trained, played, washed, defecated, linity; and three, the establishment or re-
fought, and lived. What he did and what establishment of kinds of brother-like re-
1 The following data are based on one year of
lationships. Where there was any failure
continuous participant observation in three different in adjustment that failure may be referred
basic training groups, augmented by field notes
and checked with the impressions of others with to the kind of response which the soldier
experience in other basic training groups. made to these problems.
I am particularly indebted to Mr. Geoffrey Gorer
for crlllclsHI~ ulIll ",ugg'e~LluH~ which have lwell 111- One kind of failure in adjustment was
corporated into the paper without further acknowl-
edgment. manifested by physical incapacity. In

• B.S. Cornell 40; M.A. Cornell 41. For bibliography, see PSYCHIATRY (1946) 9:165.
[323 ]
 324
basic training, from the point of view of
the group, physical disability could have
been hospitalized, treated on an out-
patient basis, or ignored by the medical
officer. Where the disability required ex-
tended hospitalization, the soldier's rela-
tionship with the group was terminated
and as far as we are concerned, needs no
further comment. But where the medical
officer's response to the disability allowed
the soldier to remain a part of the group,
then it was possible for him to develop a
special relationship to it.
The kinds of disabilities which per-
mitted the soldier to remain a part of the
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group were, most frequently, rheumatic,
asthenic, gastro-intestinal complaints, and
occasionally cardiovascular complaints
and "chronic headaches." As the group
saw them, they were pains in the leg or
arm or back, "trick knee," chronic "dis-
locations," sore joints, stiffness of joints,
weakness of muscles or limbs, cramps,
nausea, stomach pains, frequency of
bowel movement, dizziness, palpitations,
"murmer," shortness of breath, rapid
pulse rate, "pounding heart," "sinus
trouble," "migraine," and "awful head-
ache." Tooth extractions, athlete's foot,
mild nearsightedness or farsightedness,
minor abrasions, and so forth were never
observed to function socially as is de-
scribed below. It would be hazardous to
assume that since army medical examina-
tion revealed no organic problems neces-
sitating hospitalization, these symptoms
were based on anxiety rather than on or-
ganic malfunction. Whether the com-
plaints were "simply" organic or "simply"
functional-if such a distinction has any
validity-was practically irrelevant to the
psychosocial relationships involved.
The development of the relationship be-
tween the physically incapacitated and
the group took place as follows:
Physical disability was defined as some-
thing which was external to the person,
over which he could ordinarily be ex-
pected to have no control, which hap-
pened to him through no fault of his own,
something which WQ[J likc the "hand of
fate." The idea of incapacity which came
from outside the self correlated closely
DAVID M. SCHNEIDER
with the idea that help from the outside
was necessary in dealing with it. This
idea was supported, of course, by a spe-
cially trained group of technicians toward
whom one could turn for help. Physical
disability was a weakness; that was ac-
knowledged. But it was a kind of weak-
ness that did not usually arouse blame or
condemnation. It was not the same kind
of weakness as chronic alcoholism or mas-
turbation or cowardice. One could "see"
no reason for alcoholism, but one could
"see" and "feel" pain and discomfort. As a
weakness, externally caused physical in-
capacity was neither condemned nor pun-
ished in army culture. Rather, it aroused
sympathy and beneficent feelings ideally,
and strong negative sanction was directed
toward any action which aggravated or
exploited such disability.
Initially the physically incapacitated,
whom I shall call "the sick," 2 defined
their own position and role in the group.
They pointed out their particular com-
plex of symptoms when an occasion war-
ranted and made clear exactly why they
should not do many of the things which
others did. The initial response to them
was sympathetic, and support was given
to them in their efforts to avoid the kinds
of activity which they felt were injurious
to their health. They were urged not to
do anything that would hurt them. It
was remarked and repeated that they had
no business in the army; the army had
no business trying to force the impossible
out of them, that they could count on
"the rest of us" to support them in a
show-down should any officer or noncom-
missioned officer demand their full par-
ticipation.
At this time, which corresponded to the
beginning of the training period-before
the bulk of the group had made adjust-
ments of its own-the members extend-
ing sympathy were having their own
troubles accustoming themselves to the
hard work, the hours, the food, the disci-
pline. The whole army seemed to them a
harsh, brutal kind of monster. Their ex-
tensions of sympathy were a protest of
their OWl! limi aL Lhe same Lime defined a
2 The sick usually numbered about 4 to 6 percent
of thc Groups observed.
 PHYSICAL DISABILITY IN ARMY BASIC TRAINING 325

kind of wished-for role of exemption. The brushed from the field. He retired, secur-
protest amounted to a convenient channel ing himself with the previously accepted
for directing group-sanctioned hostility sanction that the sick could not be ex-
toward the agent of their own distress, pected to do things, and he did hot do
and the role of exemption shone bright them. He continued to attempt to define
as an escape from the very things which the situation as he had done at the outset
were forcing adjustment from them. To and only gradually abandoned his at-
the sick this sympathy represented a per- tempts to force his definition of the situa-
fect kind of social sanction. Not only was tion onto the others. The rest of· the
sickness culturally sanctioned as an ex- group rolled onward past this casualty,
cuse for avoiding undue physical .effort, without troubling itself over him except
but the whole-hearted group expression . for the brief, isolated encounters in which
and reiteration of the sanction left them their conflicting views clashed. Illustrat-
doubly secure in their role; the sick knew ing this final adjustment is the following
that they could not be expected to do short extract from my field notes:
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things, and when the group agreed with T. sweeping down the middle of the floor. K.
them and told them so they felt sure of sitting on his foot locker. T. asked K. if he'd
their role. swept under his bed yet; K. said no, he felt
But as time went on fewer and fewer sick. (T. had either to sweep under K's bed
expressions of sympathy were forthcom- for him or wait until K. swept it himself so
that all the dirt could go down the aisle at
ing, and the sick participated less and less once.) T. shouted at the top of his lungs,
in the normal everyday group activities. 'You bastard! You're always sick-now get
A gradually widening gap between the the .hell on the ball, goddam it, and sweep
sick and the group became apparent. The under your bed!' K. silently rose and slowly
group had begun to make its own adjust- swept under his bed.
ments, and the social distance between Although a large majority of those who
the sick and the group became the initial defined their rOle as "sick" played it as
ground work for future friction. described above, deviations from it were
The final relationship was reached occasionally observed. Some few became
when the group had made its stable ad- even keener participants in the masculine
justment, and the sick found themselves competition, forcing themselves and ex-
cut off from the group. Group life con- ploiting the common fund of experience
tinued to encompass more and more new to gain full participation. A few found
experiences in which the sick were not difficulty in defining their role, first ex-
included. By this time the group members cluding themselves on the basis of their
had come to accept the masculinity com- ailments, then ignoring and denying
petition and had learned to handle their these ailments to force ahead, and even-
recently trun~ated affectional needs and tually adjusting either as full-blown sick
responses by repression, so that tough- or as non-sick members of the group. And
ness standards were functioning, emo- some few maintained their sick role in
tional expressions were repressed, and action but attempted to deny the fact that
the constant need to secure one's mascu- they were omitted from the group by
line self-conception was operating full forcing vocal and verbal interaction: by
force. By this time, the sick were stran- boasting, loud talk, and emphasis on
gers. Clashes occurred in any of the fol- . other areas such as gambling or drinking.
lowing situations: when the whine of the These people realized that they were los-
sick demanded sympathy, pity, emotional ing status, that being omitted from the
identification; or when the picture that competition also meant that they could
the sick presented aroused anxiety on the not win, and for them the ego hurt in-
part of the masculine self-conception; or volved demanded compensation.
when the simple "unable" existence of
the sick impeded the tough role of the . The existence of the sick role and the
others. The sick man was then actively patterned ways of responding to it; the
despised and aggressed against-he was . course of the relationship and its final
 326
equilibrium; the sanctions which sup-
ported it, including the specially tem-
pered kinds of punishments and . de-
privations; the institutional provision of
doctors, dispensaries, and avenues for es-
tablishing relationship; and the existence
in the army of heightened demands on
masculinity and physical activity: all
these were functionally interrelated.
Here, then, was a patterned kind of be-
havior which might be assumed to be
based on a range of motivations which
were common to enough of the popula-
tion and which had a kind of social rele-
vance such as warranted the regulariza-
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tion of the response.
Physical disability, as we have seen,
disqualified the suffering soldier from sit-
uations which were physically competi-
tive. The competition was between
"brothers," and participation in the com-
petition aimed at securing a satisfactory
masculine self-conception. It was compe-
tition to "keep up with the boys," to be
tough and strong. The old army cliche,
"make a man of you," is perhaps the most
accurate way of saying this. The army
tried to "make a man of you," but if one
could not, or did not want to be a "man,"
one did not have to be. One called upon
some external, hand-of-fate kind of dis-
qualification. For those persons who, com-
ing into army basic training, could not
operate within the preferred cultural
channels, the existence of this institution-
like arrangement both allowed disqualifi-
cation and patterned its operation.
The physical disabilities of those who
played the sick role may have had any
one of a wide variety of origins. But no
matter what the origin, the soldier with a
physical disability was faced with the
psychological problem of how to treat it,
how to behave, what role to play. Some
attempted to compensate for their dis-
abilities by intense conformative behavior,
pushing themselves to the limit to gain
full particip:ltion. Others tried simply to
ignore the disability, saying nothing of it
and acting as if it did not exist; others
played the sick role. The determinants
of this choice lay in the psychic make-up
of the person and in the available, per-
mitted alternatives of the culture. But
DA VID M. SCHNEIDER
when the sick role was played it did effect
the disqualification of the player from the
masculinity demands of army life.
This disqualification may initially have
been either the direct response to a spe-
cific motivation to evade masculinity de-
mands or an indirect consequence of be-
havior based on other motivations. It is
clear, however, that no matter what moti-
vations were originally involved, the
same psychological consequences pre-
vailed for all who played that role. Ini-
tially the soldier had been supported in
his sick rOle. Later he found himself
omitted from the group, thereby losing
those satisfactions which membership
brought. He had lost a common ground
of experience upon which feelings of be-
longing are based. He had lost the sense
of achievement which the others had and
he saw them have it and felt the loss. He
was himself responsible for his omission
from the group, for he had taken the ini-
tiative in avoiding the bulk of the activi-
ties, largely physical, in which the group
participated. Isolated from the group and
unable to participate in its physical ac-
tivities because he had defined himself as
unable, he then experienced a sense of
inadequacy, of failure, of inability, of
being left-out. This feeling of inadequacy,
supported by the various motivations
which initially had made the sick role
physically necessary, provided additional
motivation specifically for the evasion of
masculinity demands.
Hence, whether the need to evade mas-
culinity demands was antecedent to the
playing of the sick role or derived from
the playing of the sick role after it had
been embarked upon for other reasons,
both kinds of people may be regarded as
having had the need when the sick role
was played.
This is an account of the primary func-
tion of this patterned behavior in terms of
the motivations of people. But such regu-
larization of behavior patterns never
arises and endures simply to fulfill one
person's need. Rather, it seems evident
that out of American life and family rela-
tionships had come a large enough num-
ber of men whose motivations had even-
tuated in the evasion of masculinity
 PHYSICAL DISABILITY IN ARMY BASIC TRAINING 327

demands that, in this basic training situa- the sick was brief, and the support rela-
tion, some provision for their problem had tively smaller. But even in a young
to be made-provision for how they were group, oriented toward adulthood as they
to act and how they were to be treated. had been before induction, it was evident.
One of the provisions found in American There is a further observation on disa-
army basic training culture was this sick bilities in army basic training which is
role. s . appropriate at this point, and that is that
The initial support of the sick in their the readily visible and vocal disabilities
disqualifying role could occur over a pe- were physical rather than intellectual,
riod of weeks or could be confined to but asthenic rather than affectional. Hardly
a few days. Any exact statement of time anyone went to any army dispensary to
would be misleading, since the duration complain that he was not thinking clearly
of the group's support of the sick was not or efficiently, or that he did not enjoy sex
based on time, but rather was predicated as much as he once had. Instead he said
on the group's need to aggress against the that he had sacroiliac strain or stomach
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army as the agent of its discomfort. This trouble or chronic lumbar pain or a "trick
was in turn derived from the anxieties knee." This does not mean that these
which had been aroused by the demands were the only disabilities which occurred.
on masculinity, truncated affectional rela- Rather, it reflected the comparatively
tionships, and all male group living. high social valuation and emphasis which
When the group had shifted from fighting was placed on the masculine physical ca-
or evading demands of army culture to pacities. It is hardly necessary to point
meeting them, the degree of aggression out that this was quite consistent with the
against the army diminished markedly. whole orientation of army basic training
It was at this time that the siek were as training for combat.
redefined from a sympathy-arousing sym- Consistent with this too was the con-
bol to an anxiety-arousing one. Different tent of the sick role, which emphasized
groups varied as to the time it took to physical disability as the grounds for dis-
accept and meet· the masculinity demands qualification, and it is in the light of these
of the army. A group which was com- observations that the selective and sug-
posed primarily of 28- to 35-year-old men gestive functions of the sick role become
-men whose conception of masculinity . apparent.
was phrased more in intellectual or career The sick role, as a pattern of behavior
terms, men who had abandoned adoles- in operation, was selective insofar as it
cent values for adult ones-took longer to emphasized and made socially and psychi-
adjust. Conversely, the 18-, 19-, and 20- cally effective for the soldier those of his
year-old men, fresh from an adolescent disabilities which were appropriate to the
society, found the masculinity demands army situation-the physically disabling
much easier to understand and much rather than the emotionally or intellec-
easier to meet; there was little they tually incapacitating. It was suggestive
needed to abandon. In a young group of in that by its form and existence it pro-
this sort, the initial period of support of vided a pattern of behavior for uncon-
scious adoption.4
• It should be explicitly noted that physical dis- From the point of view of the question
qualification was not the only provision in the army of symptom formation, these data suggest
for persons who needed to evade masculinity de-
mands. It was simply the particular one which I that in those cases where the psychic aim
am discussing.
The existence of this kind of cultural provision of a disability is to disqualify, to evade,
for the evasion of masculinity demands (disquali- to remove the subject from a psychologi-
fication without consciously directed punishment)
means that the society recognizes this syndrome as
a legitimate, though not specially honored one. In • A study worth making, perhaps, would be one
other societies, or even other times within the which correlated civilian manifestations of anxiety
history of this society, other proviRinns exist, that and maladjustlmmt w illt those which ocow'!'CU in
is, severe pUllishment. public shaming, and so on. thc same RoJdier in the army. To What extent, for
Why this kind of cultural provision should exist instance, was there a shift from "nervousness" as
rather than some other is a question which will be a civilian symptom to pain and physical discomfort
partially dealt with later. following induction?
 328
cally intolerable situation, then the kind
of disability he develops must be pat-
terned from the social situation if it is
to be effective. The cultural definition of
effective is not specific, but may provide
a range of alternatives. Where the per-
sonality needed a disqualifying somatic
condition in the army, for instance, it did
not have to be specifically lumbar sprain
or chronic sinusitis, but it could not have
been hypertension or hay fever unless it
had been severe. Where a physical com-
plaint had symbolized psychic conflict and
had also functioned as a dis qualifier in
civilian life, the change to the army situa-
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tion, because of the change in social val-
uation, might have necessitated a shift
to a somatically synonymous symbol
which also bore the new socially disquali-
fying evaluation. Or where such a need
had given rise to a range of hypochron-
driacal physical complaints, then the ef-
fect would have been a selection and em-
phasis of some of them and a negation of
the importance of others; this selection
and emphasis was reflected in the sol-
dier's behavior, for he felt more and more
discomfort from those socially relevant
aches and pains and less discomfort from
the others.
It is perhaps in this area, the area
of masculinity demands, that the social
importance to psychic security of the
kind of symptom could be seen most dra-
matically. Where induction into the army
was interpreted as an immersion into a
traumatic, threatening situation; where
the social demands on the person were
neither intellectual nor affectional but ex-
plicitly physical; where there were chan-
nels of escape, avenues of relationship
leading to these channels, doctors and
hospitals and certificate-of-disability dis-
l:harges or at least limited service, and
where others were seen or heard about
who demonstrated the pattern which ef-
fectively removed them; where initial
self-disqualification was greeted with such
strong group support: then the develop-
ment of some kind of pbysi~<'ll nisability
was almost inevitn h lAo 1\ nn if these sol-
diers developed some ineffective symptom
first, perhaps because it was more pre-
cisely expressive of their conflict, then its
DA VID M. SCHNEIDER
very social ineffectiveness, which also
means psychic ineffectiveness, soon ne-
cessitated further efforts at tension reduc-
tion. This effort resulted in the genesis
of an effective symptom, modeled from the
situation which was so readily apparent.
The development of a socially irrelevant
symptom simply could not relieve the
anxiety sufficiently. It could reduce it, it
could be of some comfort, but the bulk of
the anxiety would still be there, still de-
manding relief.
There are other relationships between
the dynamics of the social situation and
the psychic processes which warrant ex-
ploration.
The initial support of the sick in their
role had the psychological effect of rein-
forcing their disqualification by reward-
ing it. This reinforcement provided, along
with the person's internal tensions and
motivations, one of the bases for the com-
pulsiveness of the behavior which fol-
lowed-the sick role.
The socially isolating effect of the sick
person's role aroused strong feelings of
isolation. He was cut off from the group,
and feeling cut off, the depth and satisfac-
tion of his interpersonal relationships suf-
fered. More and more of his satisfactions
had to come from within himself and less
. and less could he depend upon others for
his psychic wants. This made his dis-
ability more important than ever for him
and so contributed to the secondary gain.
The neurotic compulsion was further
reinforced through the social isolation
which had a fixing effect, once the soldier
had embarked upon a career of disquali-
fication. Although there was no institu-
tional provision making the process irre-
versible,5 all factors militated against
turning back. The longer he was out of
the group, the harder it was to get back
in. The greater the initial satisfaction
from the social sanction supporting his
disqualification, the less likely was it that
it would be relinquished later. The feel-
ings of isolation-consequent on divorce
from the group and barren and punisbing
relationships-were conlJolidnten hllt min-
• The process was irreversible, however, when
the soldier was hospitalized and discharged with a
Certificate of Disability.
 PHYSIC4.L DISABILITY IN ARMY BASIC TRAINING
imized by the secondary gain. The per-
sonality which had adjusted to its civilian
masculinity anxieties by avoiding com-
petition and accepting a passive role, had
its whole adjustment shattered by a trau-
matic inundation of a violently threaten-
ing situation and new fears were added
to. old ones, consolidating the fears and
the imperative need for avoidance. Since
he was cut off from the group and hurt by
it, he may well have developed feelings of
persecution which consolidated his iso-
lation. 6
It should be noted that the group made
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no conscious effort to punish the sick ex-
cept where the situational convergence
brought the group and the sick into di-
rect conflict. Yet the net effect was a pun-
ishing one for the sick, as a result of the
periodic clashes and the fact that they
were cut off from the group, with a dearth
of rewarding human relationships. But
this was more an unconscious conse-
quence than a premeditated effort on the
part of the group. The overt pattern was
one of mutual avoidance and with-
drawal; the sick avoided participation and
the well found themselves isolated from
the -sick and kept it that way.
The fixing effect plus the nonpunitive
nature of the role were two factors
which tended to support and perpetuate
both the patterned behavior of the sick
and the masculinity-evading motivation
with which it was associated. If one were
to pose the question, Why did the sick
role as a patterned behavior persist? the
answer could be made, at least in part, in
• In this connection it would be unfortunate to
overlook the medical department as a source of
anxiety. The almost universal fear of injcctions,
the "tall tales" that older basic trainees told to
newer ones about "the next one is the one where
they use the square needle in your left testicle"
or the "needle with the booster charge on it"; the
wild rumors of the sexually incapacitating effects
of atabrine, a drug sponsored by the medical de·
partment; the 041 but still vigorous rumor that
saltpeter was used in the food to decrease the sol·
diers' sexual interest and capacity; the constant
complaints which ,were heard about the ineffiCiency
of army medicine; nicknames for medical officerS,
and. dispensary. surgeons. especially, such as
"chancre meohanio," "clap specialist," or "aP1J!"!11'
tice quack"; the frequently encountered belief that
"young inexperienced internes just out of school"
staffed the dispensarieR in order to "practice up"
before being giv:en any "real responsibilities": these
can hardly be regarded as considered professional
judgment based on careful study.
7
329 .
the following terms: first, the need to
evade masculinity demands in a suffi-
ciently large portion of the population re-
quired some kind of provision; second,
for reasons which I have not explored,
this role was met by a nonpunitive, non-
eliminative kind of behavior by the rest of
the group; third, one of the consequences
of this role was its fixing effect upon the
person. These last two factors meant that
the anxiety which had been aroused by
masculinity demands in those who,played
the siek role was reduced to a tolerable
degree but never eliminated, cured, or
punished out of existence at any point in
its development. And since the anxiety
was reduced but neither altered nor elim-
inated in the soldier, he perpetuated both
the anxiety and the adaptation to it.
It seems clear then that for any given
person the existence and perpetuation of
this kind of neurotic response-;-the sick
role-cannot be ascribed exclusively to
the peculiar or accidental psychic history
of that person, but is rather a function of
the interaction of the particular psychic
situation with the culture in which the
neurotic response takes place. Other cul-
tures, or different social responses to the
same psychic needs, may have different
psychic consequences for the person and
he in turn may respond differently. Not
the least important of the conditions ac-
counting for the particular neurotic re-
sponse is the existence of permissive cul-
tural definitions-definitions which func-
tion so as to allow and perhaps even fa-
cilitate the perpetuation of the response.
It is these functionally permissive condi-
tions of the culture, as well as the condi-
tions of genesis, to which one must look
for a part of the answer to the question
of why different cultures exhibit different
kinds of neuroses.
If the perspective is shifted from the
individual in the culture to the culture
alone, it can be seen that the following
situation existed: A minority of the group
deviated from the cultural role defined
for it. Thp. dp.vil'lt.ion was neither random
nor erratic, but regular both in its occur-
rence and in its pattern. The role of the
group toward the deviant developed into
 330
a regular and consistent one, and it too
cannot be described as erratic or random.
The conditions for the transmission and
perpetuation of the deviant role existed
as part of the definition of both the sick
role and the role of the group. This meets
Linton's definition of cultural behavior. 7
The role of the deviant negated the
major orientation or goal of the culture.
Army basic training culture was centered
on the efficient execution of the masculine
role of toughness, ruggedness, ability to
"take it" (stamina) which had the aim of
successful combat; the sick evaded this
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specific role by acting in precisely the
contrary fashion; they were neither tough
nor rugged but weak and unable to "take
it."
As Benedict and Mead have pointed
out,s deviance of this sort is abnormal
only in the cultural context which disal-
lows and disvalues it, rather than institu-
tionalizing and sanctioning it. The dis-
valued definition of the sick role in army
basic training culture, however, was not
the arbitrary judgment of a malevolent
society; rather, the disvaluation of the
sick role followed logically from the func-
tional requisites of a culture oriented pri-
marily around one major goal.
Where a culture is oriented around one
major interest or goal,9 any role in that
culture which is defined in antithesis to
that goal may be disruptive or threaten-
ing. If the culture is to maintain the
major goal, then the threat to it must be
neutralized. The neutralization of the
threat does not mean, however, that the
whole role must be eliminated. In the
case of the sick, the threatening behavior
became isolated from the group and the
group insulated from the threat by the
minimal and brief contact with it. This
isolation was enforced by defining the de-
viant role as disvalued, by punishing the
actor through the kind of ostracism pre-
7 Ralph Linton, The Cultural Background of Per-
sonality; New York, D. Appleton-Century Company,
1945; pp. 32-38.
• Huth Benedict, Patt(!r'l1R nf Cu.lture; HORton,
IIoughton Mifflin Company, 1031; pp. 237257.
Margaret Mead, Sex and Temperament; New York,
William Morrow and Company, 1935; pp. 290-322.
• Kardiner calls this "polarization". Abram Kardi-
ner, The Psychological Frontiers of Society; New
York, Columbia University Press, 1945; p_ 99.
DAVID M. SCHNEIDER
viously described, and by the punishing
effect of the brief encounters.
But these devices which effectively iso-
late the deviants are first made possible
by the structure of the culture. The basic
training situation was defined as one in
which the whole group participated in the
same kind of activity at the same time.
Since it was the evasion of these activities
that was the distinguishing feature of the
sick rOle, it follows that by evading that
participation which was shared, the sick
were separated from the group. It is this
which made isolation possible. Although
the separation of the sick from the group
was made possible by their separate
spheres of experience, it would still have
been feasible, within this same structure,
to have integrated the two. Instead, be-
cause the sick role constituted a threat
against the major goal of the culture, this
initial separation was capitalized upon,
and the devaluation of the sick role, the
punishment of the sick through withhold-
ing sympathy, and the aggression of the
brief encounters effectively enforced the
isolation of the sick role.
Although, as pointed out above, the def-
inition of the sick role allowed for its per-
petuation, its existence also had positive
cultural functions. Since the personnel
of this society, the army, were drawn
from a different society with a different
culture, army basic training society had
the problem of selecting only those per-
sonnel which met its specifications. In-
sofar as its selective techniques did not
prevent the introduction of potential de-
viants and insofar as deviance could have
been learned after induction, the sick role
permitted the group to become homo-
geneous by draining off deviants and iso-
lating them, thus strengthening the cul-
ture. By the same token, any given
person who was maladjusted had the pos-
sibility of escape from what may have
been for him an intolerable situation.
Although space does not permit ex-
tended analysis, the hypothesis is ad-
varwed that the deviant :;;ick r61e was not
punished aggressively enough to extin-
guish the role, partly because such pun-
ishment would have been an even greater
 PHYSICAL DISABILITY IN ARMY BASIC TRAINING
threat both socially and psychologically
to the rest of the group. For the people
in the situation, such strong aggression
might have amounted to a kind of self-
punishment, psychologically, insofar as
one aspect of the self was identified with
this role of evasion, as it manifestly had
been at the very beginning of the rela-
tionship. Culturally, in addition to de-
stroying the functions described above--
that is, the support of the major goal of
the culture by draining deviants and so
making the group more homogeneous-
it would have clashed with certain other
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values which the group held. Such ag-
gressive punishment would have violated
the taboo on in-group aggression. It
would also have transgressed the individ-
ualistic tenet that each person was re-
sponsible for his own behavior so long as
it did not actively or directly interfere
with or burden others.lo Since the recruit
did not see it as his personal job that
every available man be trained to fight,
any decisive action on his part would
have been regarded as an unwarranted
transgression.
One of the more important conclusions
which can be made from this analysis is
that a necessary functional interdepen-
dence exists between both social and psy-
chological functions within any system of
interacting people. It seems quite ob-
vious that if the assumption of the sick
role had not entailed a psychologically
punishing price for the soldier, the social
organization of army basic training-as
an integrated unit training for combat-
could not have been maintained; on the
other hand, had the social organization of
army basic training been oriented by, let
us say, principles of "fun-for-all," as in a
boys' summer camp, a psychological con-
sequence of the sick role could not have
been severe punishment. Similarly, the
psychological isolation of the individual
was functionally coordinate with his so-
cial isolation, which was neceflf;ary in
maintaining a homogeneous group and
weeding out the incompetents; psycho-
10 So it is that goldbricking, that is, evading work,
is perfectly commendable provided no extra work
is thereby thrown on one's immediate friends and
neighbors.
331
logical isolation had the social effect of cre-
ating people who, from the point of view
of the group, "don't really belong" and so
could be easily weeded out. Again, the
channeling of symptom formation into
physical and not intellectual disabilities
was functionally congruent with the ne-
cessity, defined by the social organization,
for selecting physically fit fighters. Psy-
chological needs which were in implicit
but not explicit conflict with the social
functions of training for combat might not
have been detected at that time. But
when these needs became expressed in
physical terms, they did come in conflict
with the social value and thus made pos-
sible the selection of psychologically as
well as physically fit combat men.H So,
too, the fact that the sick were not ac-
tively and aggressively sought out and
attacked by the group was functionally
congruent with the psychological orienta-
tion of aggression in army basic training.
The social value was on aggression
against the enemy, not amongst the
group. If the group members had at-
tacked each other indiscriminately, this
might have had the effect of heightening
the general level of aggression, but it
would also have militated against coop-
erative team work. The failure of the
group to attack the sick supported the
soldier's displacement of his aggression
onto the enemy, and permitted team ac-
tivity by minimizing intragroup aggres-
sion. 12
To summarize: One finds in army basic
training a patterned sick role for those
who had physical disabilities but who had
to remain with the group. The sick role
developed first as a group-sanctioned be-
havior, focusing the resentment of the
group against the army, providing a cause
celebre for aggression against the army.
11 That this was not a perfectly efficient system,
in terms of the future actual combat, is clear from
the appearance of combat neuroses later. But
within thc basic training llituatiuH 1L was effective
and it was integrated.
12 As contrast, see David M. Schneider, The Cul·
ture of the Army Clerk, PSYCHIATRY (1946) 9:123·
129; see especially pp. 127-128. The culture of the
army clerk, permitting only circuitously directed
aggression, but rewarding successful intragroup
aggression, allows little effective cooperation or
team-work except when it is dictated by powerful
authority above.
 332 DA VID M~ SCHNEIDER

But the group sanction lasted only until petuated it in toto rather than eliminated
the group had begun to make its adjust- it at its source-in the family relation-
ment to aborted affectional needs, height- ships of early ~ife or later as the case
ened masculinity demands, and brother- might be-or at any point in its devel-
like relationships. When the group began opment.
to make its adjustment, its need for ra- The existence and perpetuation of this
tionalization of its aggression against the neurotic response-the sick role-cannot
army diminished, so that it no longer sup- . be ascribed only to the peculiar or acci-
ported the sick in their role. At this time dental psychic history of the person but
the divorce between the sick and the must be considered also as a function of
group took place, and the sick found the cultural situation in which that psy-
themselves isolated from the group. The chic history takes place. One important
final adjustment was reached with the condition which must be taken into ac-
stable isolation of the sick from the group, count is the existence in the cuitural
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with occasional, isolated clashes when the structure of permissive rather than elim-
sick impeded the others. The group, how- inative role definitions.
ever, usually made no special conscious From the cultural perspective alone, the
effort to punish the sick, but only main- sick role' was the direct negation of the
tained the social distance between them. major goal of army basic training culture.
Whether or not the original motivation As a potential threat to the major goal,
for any given soldier was the specific, eva- the disvaluation of that role was a func-
sion of the heightened masculinity de- tional necessity and not an irrational or
mands which army life imposed, this be- arbitrary assignment of value. This threat
came the effect once the sick role was was neutralized by isolating it and insulat-
played. It is apparent from the existence ing the group from it~ This isolation of
of this patterned sick rOle that a suffi- the sick role was possible only because
ciently large portion of the population the cultural structure allowed for its req-
either had come into basic training with uisite conditions, namely, the separate
this motivation, or acquired it shortly areas of common experience for the group
thereafter, and that this motivation had on the one hand and the sick on the other.
such social relevance as to warrant the The separation was enforced by defining
regularization of the sick role. Hence the the deviant role as disvalued, and by pun-
sick role had as one of its cultural func- ishing the sick by withholding sympathy,
tions provision for the social problem of and in brief hostile encounters.
those who, for one reason or another, Major cultural functions of the sick role
were forced to evade masculinity de- were, first, the support of the major goal
mands. From the point of view of the of the culture by draining off deviants
question of symptom formation, the social and allowing the group to become more
valuation of the particular symptom stood
homogeneous and, second,. providing the
as one of the most important criteria de-
individual soldier with an avenue for es-
termining the choice and manifestation
cape from, for him, a psychologically in-
of a symptom. For if the symptom were
to be effective in relieving this anxiety, it tolerable situation.
had to function socially so as to permit The necessary integration of the social
disqualification in meeting masculinity and the psychological functions of the
demands. For the sick soldier, the adop- sick role is understood in terms of the
tion of the sick role reinforced narcissistic following: First, the punishing price paid
trends and fixed almost irreversibly his by the soldier directly supported the or-
neurotic role. The nonpunitive, nonelimi- ganization of the society around the pri-
native kind of role which the sick role mary goal of training for combat, and con-
represented, pLus the fixing effect on the versely, such an organization, if it were to
person, were two among many factors survive, had to exact just such a price
. which tended to reduce the anxiety to a from any soldier who deviated from its
tolerable degree but at t.he flame time per- major goal. Second, the psychological iso-
 PHYSICAL DISABILITY IN ARMY BASIC TRAINING
lation of the soldier gave rise to his social
isolation, thus permitting the deviant to
be weeded out of the group and the group
to maintain its homogeneity, and con-
versely, the social isolation of the soldier
consolidated his psychological isolation.
Third, the channeling of psychological
symptoms into physical manifestations
permitted their ready recognition and
elimination, thus supporting the homo-
geneity of the group, while conversely the
major emphasis on physical fitness as the
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333
,
socially defined value enabled the indi-
vidual to express his psychic problems in
those socially recognized terms. And
fourth, the displacement of aggression
from the sick to outside the group facili-
tated the development of cooperative
team work, while conversely cooperative
team work necessitated the social prohibi-
tion on aggression within the group which
in turn facilitated its displacement onto
the enemy.
BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS