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“What do you think of female chastity?” Identity and Loyalty in the National Security State
Author(s) -
NEOCLEOUS MARK
Publication year - 2006
Publication title -
journal of historical sociology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.186
H-Index - 26
eISSN - 1467-6443
pISSN - 0952-1909
DOI - 10.1111/j.1467-6443.2006.00289.x
Subject(s) - loyalty , identity (music) , patriotism , national security , politics , formative assessment , national identity , state (computer science) , sociology , political science , media studies , law , aesthetics , computer science , philosophy , pedagogy , algorithm
This article explores the relationship between security, identity and loyalty. Focusing on the formative texts and practices underpinning the rise of the national security state in America, while alluding to more recent developments, the article claims that security and identity are inextricably linked, not just in the obvious existential ways, but also in a far more political way: that the fabrication of national security goes hand in hand with the fabrication of national identity, and vice versa. Extending well beyond the question of patriotism as a security trope, this ‘identity’ permeates the worlds of sexuality and domesticity. To make this case the article pinpoints loyalty as a key political technology for simultaneously gauging identity and reaffirming security, thereby unearthing what might be called a security‐identity‐loyalty complex.