Contractors in Iraq: Exploited Class or Exclusive Club?
Dados Bibliográficos
AUTOR(ES) | |
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AFILIAÇÃO(ÕES) | Behavioral Sciences Department, University of Saint Mary, Leavenworth, KS, USA, Department of Sociology, Anthropology, and Social Work, Texas Tech University, Lubbock, TX, USA |
ANO | 2022 |
TIPO | Artigo |
PERIÓDICO | Armed Forces and Society |
ISSN | 0095-327X |
E-ISSN | 1556-0848 |
EDITORA | Annual Reviews (United States) |
DOI | 10.1177/0095327x20927471 |
CITAÇÕES | 2 |
ADICIONADO EM | 2025-08-18 |
Resumo
Corporate privatization of security has generated a neoliberal iteration of an old profession: the private military contractor. This development has revolutionized security policies across the globe while reviving old patterns of inequality. Following neoliberal logic, outsourcing fosters two types of employment: the exploitative and the exclusive. The first refers to low-status individuals hired en masse to perform menial labor; the second refers to experts who perform functions central to the employer's mission. We contribute to this discussion by focusing on the qualifications of a different subsample of this industry: American contractors who died while performing military and security functions in Iraq. We assert that such American employees directly engaged in mission-essential combat and security functions better fit the employment category of an exclusive, expert sector at the core of the private military industry.