Extreme Devotion: Cause and Community in the Post-World War II U.S. Marine Corps

A similar feature in all extreme organizations is a heightened sense of devotion to a community and to a cause – no one is a nonchalant extremist. “Extreme Devotion,” explores those two subjects in relation to a military service – an investigation begun but not completed in my first book, Underdogs: The Making of the Modern Marine Corps(2012).  

Here, I argue that the Cold War Marine Corps bore a striking similarity to a specific brand of religious extremism:  fundamentalism.  Using the cultural typology set forth in Marty and Appleby’s seven-volume Fundamentalisms Project,I demonstrate that Cold War Marines shared a number of key traits with other Cold War fundamentalists around the world.  All defined their organizations in transcendent terms, depended on literal readings of essential texts, and obsessed over purity and membership loss. All reacted against key tenets of modernity and liberalism while simultaneously appropriating modern technology to advance their cause.  All used mythology and ritual to enforce strong boundaries between themselves and outsiders.  And, all viewed the world and their place in it through the logic and language of warfare; whether they used the term literally or metaphorically, fundamentalists are first and foremost “fighters.” These similarities deserve explanation – what do they tell us about how American men form social groups and use violence to defend them?

Including a paper on military extremism in this session will help broaden the conversation beyond the political spectrum (“left-wing” versus “right-wing”) and will encourage other forms of comparison.  I am particularly interested in discussing how extremist groups have historically constructed high-powered notions of community and shared purpose, for I am convinced that these have been their most compelling arguments to those unsatisfied with the mainstream options of 20^th Century American life.