Military bases extend total-institution control over civilian family members.

Evidence

What this means for spouses and other family members is that they, too, are subject to much of the military’s power as a total institution. Though they are not in the military themselves, the military has the power to shape significant parts of their lives, especially if they live on base. The military shapes the food family members eat, the clothes they wear, the purchases they make, the education they receive, the ideas they’re exposed to, and the media they consume (from Fox News often playing on TVs around base to everyone from Rush Limbaugh to National Public Radio on the American Forces Network Radio). And on bases overseas, where family members are separated from their homes, communities, and larger social networks and living in societies where they often don’t speak the local language, the military’s power over them is particularly pronounced. — David Vine, Base Nation_ How U.S. Military Bases…, 464

Categorization

• XREF: Shows how the total institution concept from 461 scales to include non-military dependents living on base overseas.