Military Service and Physical Capital: Framing Musculoskeletal Disorders Among American Military Veterans Using Pierre Bourdieu’s Theory of Cultural Capital

• Published date: 01 April 2019
• Date: 01 April 2019
• Author: Ramon Hinojosa,Jenny Nguyen,Melanie Sberna Hinojosa
• DOI: 10.1177/0095327X17741888
• Subject Matter: Articles

Article

Military Service and

Physical Capital: Framing

Musculoskeletal Disorders

Among American Military

Veterans Using Pierre

Bourdieu’s Theory of

Cultural Capital

Ramon Hinojosa

1

, Melanie Sberna Hinojosa

1

and Jenny Nguyen

2

Abstract

There are 22 million veterans in the U.S. Armed Forces. Past research on the

musculoskeletal health of military veterans has explored the prevalence of mus-

culoskeletal disorders (MSDs) but largely avoids situating findings within a theo-

retical framework. This article uses Pierre Bourdieu’s theory of cultural capital to

contextualize veteran’s greater rates of MSDs compared to nonmilitary civilians.

Cultural capital consists of objectified, institutional, and embodied capital that can

be transubstantiated to capital in other areas. Embodied or physical capital is

central to military service, and military veteran status is beneficial in accessing

social and institutional capital. Using the 2012–2014 National Health Interview

Survey, we show veterans are more likely to report activity-limiting MSDs, and at

younger ages, compared to nonveterans. Physical capital is central to, and impaired

by, status as a veteran.

1

Department of Sociology, University of Central Florida, Orlando, FL, USA

2

Decision Information Resources, Inc., Houston, TX, USA

Corresponding Author:

Melanie Sberna Hinojosa, Department of Sociology, University of Central Florida, 4000 Central Florida

Blvd., Howard Phillips Hall 406, Orlando, FL 32816, USA.

Email: melanie.hinojosa@ucf.edu

Armed Forces & Society

2019, Vol. 45(2) 268-290

ªThe Author(s) 2017

Article reuse guidelines:

sagepub.com/journals-permissions

DOI: 10.1177/0095327X17741888

journals.sagepub.com/home/afs

Keywords

veterans, sociology, military culture, North America

Introduction

Some 22 million Americans are veterans of the U.S. Armed Forces (DOD, 2015),

making veterans an important subpopulation for health research (Hoerster et al.,

2012). Past military service is associated with health outcomes, both positive and

negative. One area of concern for veterans is musculoskeletal health. Research

indicates that, compared to nonmilitary civilians, veterans are more likely to have

musculoskeletal disorders (MSDs) such as arthritis and lower back, hip, and knee

pain that impair mobility (Murphy et al., 2014). MSDs are the most common cause

of chronic pain and long-term physical disability in human populations (Fejer &

Ruhe, 2012). Given that the U.S. veterans represent approximately 7%of the total

American population (DOD, 2015), understanding the degree to which MSDs affect

veterans is important and timely.

The current literature on MSDs in the U.S. veteran population is limited in at least

two ways. First, the findings tend to be descriptive, with prevalence and incidence of

MSDs in veterans reported, but this work largely lacks grounding in theoretical

frameworks that might help researchers to better understand health outcomes as part

of larger social process that link bodies to health. Second, the available data on

veteran MSDs has three shortcomings. One, MSDs have mostly been studied using

veterans enrolled in the Department of Veteran Affairs (VA) health-care system

(Barber, Bayer, Pietrzak, & Sand ers, 2011; Fasoli, Glickman, & Eisen, 2010), yet

60%of veterans are not enrolled in VA health-care services (Clever & Segal,

2013). Two, those enrolled in the VA tend to be older, sicker, and more disabled

than veterans who are not enrolled (Agha, Lofgren, Van Rusiwyk, & Layde, 2000;

National Center for Veterans Analysis and Statistics, 2014). And three, large

national studies comparing veterans and nonveterans have until very recently

been based on data collected before 2004 (Hoerster et al., 2012), missing many

of the 2.5 million Americans deployed to the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq (Cen-

ter, 2015; DOD, 2015). Research indicates that these newest veterans may have

unique disease trajectories that differ markedly from veterans of other wars (Bol-

linger et al., 2015).

We address these limitations by using the National Health Information Survey

(NHIS), a nationally representative data set of veterans and civilians living in the

general population. We pooled the last three available years of the NHIS (2012,

2013, and 2014; see https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/nhis/data-questionnaires-documen

tation.htm) to form one data set to examine the prevalence of MSDs in U.S.

military veterans compared to civilians. We then discuss veterans’ rates of MSDs

using Pierre Bourdieu’s theory of cultural capital. We argue that accessing cultural

capital through military service can provide distinctive positive social and

Hinojosa et al. 269