Harnessing Social Diversity in the British Armed Forces

This article explores how the British Ministry of Defence’s aim to accommodate and harness a demographically diverse workforce is undermined by the ways it seeks to manage this change. By focusing on policy discourses identified as the ‘diversity blind’ and the ‘management imperative’ approaches, and on insights from research with British military personnel, the article demonstrates how policy discourses can expose individuals to harassment and undermine the military’s social legitimacy. It is only by examining what it is that the military is trying to protect – its white, heterosexual, masculine identity – that it becomes clear how status quo power relations remain intact.