Status, Power, and Diversity in the Military 1

Perhaps the most fundamental organizing feature of humans is that we tend to divide into groups (Tajfel 1982). This tendency to organize into groups of “us” and “them” is one factor that makes military establishments necessary. Within groups, and in societies more generally, the most fundamental dimensions along which persons organize themselves are power and status. This chapter summarizes group processes research on power and status, and it links those concepts to issues of diversity in the military.