SOC 2390 Lecture Notes - Elite, Extortion, Symbolic Interactionism

• School: University of Guelph
• Department: Sociology
• Course: SOC 2390
• Professor: Michael A Dixon

Document Summary

The costs of militarism: the u. s. defense budget was roughly billion in 2000 about for each person in the united. Put another way, military spending accounts for 16 percent of the federal budget. Why has u. s. military spending remained high, even after the cold war and the fall of the soviet union: some argue that the world remains a dangerous place. Even though the soviet union no longer exists, thousands of nuclear weapons remain in place in what is now the russian federation. Further, the u. s. faces threats from many other nations and must be prepared to respond to regional conflicts: others argue that the powerful interests in the united states actually benefit from high levels of military spending. They see the u. s. as dominated by a military-industrial complex, a political alliance involving the federal government, the military, and the defense industries.