tions for and solutions to social problems...it also distracts public attention from social-class inequalities as sources of social problemsö (Perrucci et al, 1999, 225). Even services demonstrate an inequality based on social status and class stratification. American society is currently torn by race and class, increasingly divided between immigrants and native-born, and lacking a common experience. In short, the U.S. is in need of a communal mythology or equalizer.
Samuel Freedman argues that what America needs to provide such an equalizer is the ôexposure of citizens to other citizens on a prosaic, daily basis, in a setting stripped of all the usual distinctions and hierarchiesö (2002, 1). Many argue that military conscription provides such a common experience. Many immigrants were successfully assimilated into American culture because of their shared experiences with Americans of all classes during World War II. Historically the military has been stratified by class with respect to the demographics of those serving. Yet during World War II there were more casualties among prosperous Americans than poor Americans, but this situation was reversed in the Vietnam War. In Who Died in Vietnam?, John Willis (1975) examined the men who died in Vietnam by using census tracts and concluded that ôpoor neighborhoods were over-represented among the dead; prosperous neighborhoods had been over-represented among the dead of World War IIö (19).
Many believe that military conscription is a must to demonstrate that all Americans have equal standing. Imbalances in socioeconomic representation in the military create a great deal of controversy with respect to equality in the U.S. When volunteer service was enacted, many argued that the ranks of the military would be filled with the uneducated, poor classes as a means of gaining employment. Others argue that even when the draft was in effect, the privileged class was able to avoi...