Marching to be somebody: a governmentality analysis of online cadet recruitment

Abstract

This paper offers a governmentality analysis of the online recruitment materials of the British Army Cadets. Governmentality theory attends to the role of rationalities and techniques of government in producing subjectivity. I apply this theory to an analysis of recruitment materials to show that the cadets can be understood as techniques of government that are framed within rationalities that position young masculinity as risky, particularly in contexts of urban poverty. These techniques of government include the use of stylised practices to discipline the body and the deployment of military artefacts that enable the Cadets to perform ‘tough masculinity’. I argue that the Cadets appeal to the desire to use their bodies, as arguably the only resource that poor working-class youth have unmediated access to, as the site on which reputation and respectability can be inscribed.

Keywords:

• respectability
• working class
• masculinity
• uniform
• body

Notes

1. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jC__wbD83EI&feature=c4-overview-vl&list=PL00E822841B8172D0)

2. Of the British fatalities in Iraq and Afghanistan 68/178 and 220/444, respectively, were under 25 years old. https://www.gov.uk/government/fields-of-operation/afghanistan

3. In email correspondence with the ACF, they suggested that the Royal Canadian Army Cadets is a more appropriate comparator.

4. https://armycadets.com/become-a-cadet/what-youll-do/drill-and-turnout/ I did not get permission to reproduce these images.