ABSTRACT
The federal policy governing participation in the Armed Forces is an important area within which to research the treatment of minority groups in the United States. For what is public policy if not a snapshot of the values, beliefs, and preferences of a culture at a given point in history? Today one would hardly advocate the segregation of African Americans or the forced sterilization of the poor and mentally handicapped, although both have been official government policy at specific times in this country's history, and both were widely accepted and supported among the general population.2 While not to suggest that all public policy decisions are doomed to be judged as unenlightened mistakes by the generations that follow, it is clear that federal policy texts are interesting "material" for theoretical investigation as the privileges, convictions, predispositions, and prejudices of a culture are all too present in the "rational" outcomes of the policy process. Rather than reprehend these values and beliefs as "soft" as many policy analysts do, I believe these decisions, because of their softness, reveal much about the political climate and the culture that produce them. Policy decisions do not function unidirectionally; in other words, they do not flow simply from the institutions of government to the people. Indeed, much of what government representatives do is carefully crafted to meet with the approval of the people, to embody their desires and opinions. In this sense the policymaking process is interactive, permeable, and subject to change; not at all the reasoned and studied decisionmaking process some policy analysts describe. Reflecting as well as initiating beliefs and values, the decisions of public policy help shape the values of a culture and are in turn shaped by them, creating official meanings and accepted understanding, while granting legitimacy and recognition.
