2010/01/19 by Dorit Geva · 5 citations
Social Sciences · #American Constitutional Law and Politics #Australian History and Society #Discretion #Service (business) #White (mutation) #Political science #Demographic economics #Criminology #Business #Public administration #Economic growth #Sociology #Law #Economics #Marketing
paper · doi:10.1177/0095327x09358654
published in Armed Forces & Society 37(4), 598-618 (SAGE Publishing)
openalex publication_date 2010/01/19 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/06/12
With establishment of the U.S. Selective Service System in 1917, selective draft rules placed consideration of registrants’ economic obligations to their dependents front and center. By observing the Canadian and British recruitment experiences, American policy makers opted against universal conscription since they believed it would be costly because of the need to offer family allowances and opted against a voluntary system since they believed that too many bachelors would fail to volunteer. Dependency deferments were designed to minimize the social and economic costs of war. Local board members determined whether a man was a genuine breadwinner or not, and individual discretion on this matter contributed to the higher rates of African American draftees during WWI compared to white draftees, since African American men were less likely to be recognized as genuine breadwinners. Selective Service rules thus resulted in reproducing female citizens as economic dependents and yielded durable inequalities among registrants.