ABSTRACT
This chapter analysis how sociological knowledge about the militaries of the industrial democracies in contemporary conflicts is produced. In individual publications, edited volumes, working groups, conferences and workshops scholars have taken a leading role in Europe and increasingly in the wider field of the sociological study of militaries-in-use. A few exceptions, however, were penned by European scholars who focused on the flatter structures necessitated by the new missions of militaries after the end of the Cold War. The distancing of academic scholars from research on the military led to ever-greater reliance of the armed forces on in-house research or contractual work to consulting firms. The establishment of the journal Armed Forces and Society occurred during the broadening of the field and when mainline journals were reluctant to publish works about the military perhaps because of the ideological opposition to the Vietnam War.
