Year: 2011
Type: article
Abstract: Since the end of the Cold War the German armed forces (the Bundeswehr) have undergone a profound transformation process which has changed substantially their relationship with civil society. This is revealed amongst others in the way German society deals with the death of its soldiers, which the monument dedicated to the casualties of the Bundeswehr, inaugurated in September 2009, stands for. This article analyzes the public discourse on this new monument in order to reconstruct its symbolic meaning. Moreover, with reference to the change of civil-military relations, it examines to what extent the memorial might be able to create a symbolic relation between the armed forces and civil society.
Source: L Année sociologique
Author: Bernard Valade
Institution: Université Paris Descartes
Language: French
Subfield: Social Psychology
Field: Psychology
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: bronze
OpenAlex ID: W2155205487