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Contractors in Iraq: Exploited Class or Exclusive Club?
- Source :
-
Armed Forces & Society (0095327X) . Jan2022, Vol. 48 Issue 1, p3-24. 22p. - Publication Year :
- 2022
-
Abstract
- 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. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
Details
- Language :
- English
- ISSN :
- 0095327X
- Volume :
- 48
- Issue :
- 1
- Database :
- Academic Search Index
- Journal :
- Armed Forces & Society (0095327X)
- Publication Type :
- Academic Journal
- Accession number :
- 154337309
- Full Text :
- https://doi.org/10.1177/0095327X20927471