The Casualty Gap : The Causes and Consequences of American Wartime Inequalities

The Casualty Gap Shows How The Most Important Cost Of American Military Campaigns - The Loss Of Human Life - Has Been Paid Disproportionately By Poorer And Less-educated Communities Since The 1950s. Drawing On A Rich Array Of Evidence, Including National Archives Data On The Hometowns Of More Than 400,000 American Soldiers Killed In World War Ii, Korea, Vietnam, And Iraq, This Book Is The Most Ambitious Inquiry To Date Into The Distribution Of American Wartime Casualties Across The Nation, The Forces Causing Such Inequalities To Emerge, And Their Consequences For Politics And Democratic Governance. Although The Most Immediate Costs Of Military Sacrifice Are Borne By Service Members And Their Families, The Casualty Gap Traces How Wartime Deaths Also Affect Entire Communities. Americans Who See The High Price War Exacts On Friends And Neighbors Are More Likely To Oppose A War And Its Leaders Than Residents Of Low-casualty Communities. Moreover, Extensive Empirical Evidence Connects Higher Community Casualty Rates In Korea And Vietnam To Lower Levels Of Trust In Government, Interest In Politics, And Electoral And Non-electoral Participation. A Series Of Original Survey Experiments Finds That Americans Informed Of The Casualty Gap's Existence Will Accept Substantially Fewer Casualties That Those Who Are Not Told About Inequality In Sacrifice. By Presenting A Wealth Of Evidence And Analysis, This Book Seeks Both To Bolster Public Awareness Of Casualty Inequalities And To Spur Critical Dialogue About The Nation's Policy Response. The Casualty Gap Should Be Read By All Who Care About The Future Of America's Military And The Effects Of War On Society And Democracy.--jacket. The Casualty Gap -- Inequality And U.s. Casualties From Wwii To Iraq -- Selection, Occupational Assignment, And The Emergence Of The Casualty Gap -- Do Casualty Gaps Matter? -- How Local Casualties Shape Politics -- Political Ramifications Of The Vietnam Casualty Gap -- Political Ramifications Of The Iraq Casualty Gap -- The Casualty Gap And Civic Engagement -- The Future Of The Casualty Gap. Douglas L. Kriner, Francis X. Shen. Includes Bibliographical References And Index. Contents 14 Chapter 1 The Casualty Gap 20 The Politics of Casualties 24 Plan of the Book 27 Chapter 2 Inequality and U.S. Casualties from WWII to Iraq 31 Studying Casualties and Inequality 33 Defining and Measuring the Casualty Gap 34 Geographic Variance in Local Casualty Rates 35 Explaining the Casualty Gap 39 Income and Education 39 Unemployment 39 Race 40 Rural Farm Population 41 Partisanship 42 Geographic Region and Age 43 Assessing the Casualty Gap across Four Wars 43 The Individual-Level Casualty Gap and the Problem of Ecological Inference 57 Examining Socioeconomic Variation within the Community 60 Explaining the Casualty Gap 64 Technical Appendix to Chapter 2 65 Chapter 3 Selection, Occupational Assignment, and the Emergence of the Casualty Gap 73 Mechanism #1: Selection in the Modern Wars 75 The War in Iraq and the AVF 80 Mechanism #2: Occupational Assignment within the Military 84 The Selection Mechanism Revisited: The Role of the Draft 90 Changes in the Draft and in the Casualty Gap over Time 91 The Draft Lottery and Its Ramifications for the Casualty Gap 93 The Absence of a Draft and the Iraq Casualty Gap 95 Casualty Gaps at the Individual Level 97 Technical Appendix to Chapter 3 100 Chapter 4 Do Casualty Gaps Matter? 109 The Casualty Gap and Public Support for War 111 The Casualty Gap’s Influence in 2009 117 Bringing the Casualty Gap into the Public Sphere 120 Technical Appendix to Chapter 4 121 Chapter 5 How Local Casualties Shape Politics 126 Local Casualties and Political Behavior 128 A New Theory of Local Casualty Influence 130 Mechanism #1: Personal Contact with Local Casualties 130 Mechanism #2: Elite Cues 134 Mechanism #3: The Local Media 137 Conclusion 140 Technical Appendix to Chapter 5 141 Chapter 6 Political Ramifications of the Vietnam Casualty Gap 148 Casualties, Public Opinion, and the Vietnam War 150 Local Casualty Rates and Support for the Vietnam War 153 Casualties 153 Demographic Control Variables 154 Results and Discussion 155 Should the United States Have Stayed Out of Vietnam? 155 Should the United States Withdraw from Vietnam? 160 The Electoral Consequences of Local Casualties 163 Modeling Vote Choice 164 Results and Discussion 165 The Casualty Gap and the Democratic Brake on Military Adventurism 170 Technical Appendix to Chapter 6 172 Chapter 7 Political Ramifications of the Iraq Casualty Gap 178 Iraq, Casualties, and Public Opinion 180 Knowing a Casualty and Feeling Negatively Affected Personally by the War 182 Support for Withdrawal 184 Iraq, Casualties, and Electoral Dynamics 187 Varying Experience with Casualties and Electoral Choice in 2006 188 State and Local Casualty Rates and Change in Republican Vote Share 189 State-Level Results 192 County-Level Results 195 Republican Incumbent Races at the County Level 196 Conclusion 198 Technical Appendix to Chapter 7 200 Chapter 8 The Casualty Gap and Civic Engagement 208 War and American Political and Civic Engagement 210 Theoretical Expectations 212 The Immediate Effects of Vietnam on Political Participation 214 Results 215 The Lingering Effects of Vietnam on Civic Engagement 220 Results 221 Korea, World War II, and Patterns of Political Engagement 223 Results 224 Conclusion 228 Technical Appendix to Chapter 8 230 Chapter 9 The Future of the Casualty Gap 243 Responding to the Casualty Gap 248 Facing up to the Casualty Gap 251 Notes 252 References 294 Index 312 A 312 B 312 C 312 D 313 E 313 F 313 G 313 H 314 I 314 J 314 K 314 L 315 M 315 N 316 O 316 P 316 R 317 S 317 T 318 U 318 V 318 W 318 Y 319 Z 319 9780195390964 Many have long suspected that when America takes up arms it is a rich man's war, but a poor man's fight. In 'The Casualty Gap' Douglas Kriner and Francis Shen renew the debate over unequal sacrifice by bringing to light mountains of new evidence on the inequality dimensions of American wartime casualties