The Marines, Counterinsurgency, and Strategic Culture

28 Chapter 1
was, therefore, no military solution acceptable to the Israeli population. The
situation would have to be resolved politically. 52
Whether stemming from a national culture or service culture source,
Kevin Avruch supplies a useful caution concerning the study of norms. He
notes that norms are not internalized evenly across a population. Some may
have very shallow roots, “the equivalent of cultural clichés,” while others
are deeply embedded and “invested with emotion or affect.” 53 It is here that
values are usefully overlapped with norms. Norms that are intimately wedded
to specific values exist at the “internalization” rather than “compliance”
level of behavior. One might think of cultural practices as falling along a
spectrum. At the deep end are norms informed by dearly held, profoundly
invested beliefs. These norms are internalized and will persist without supervision
and despite more “logical” recommendations. At the shallow end are
those practices that are widely observed socially but fit Avruch’s notion of
“cultural clichés.” These may be practices mandated by those in authority—
complied with by underlings but quickly abandoned as soon as the supervising
power is removed. Cultural clichés may also be something as simple as
habit carried forward by social inertia, long severed from its original raison
d’être or any sincere belief system.
Mariano Grondona marks a useful differentiation between norms born
of intrinsic or instrumental values. The first are “those we uphold regardless
of the benefits or costs” and are synonymous with “internalization.” Those
he deems “instrumental” are pursued because they yield direct benefit to the
actor. The salience of Grondona’s point for our purposes is that the attractiveness
of norms attached to intrinsic values for members of a particular
target group is “inexhaustible” since the norms are valued for their own sake
rather than as a means to an end. Combat action registers in this category
for Marines. Instrumental norms, on the other hand, are pursued only until
the end is accomplished; they are far less deeply rooted, existing primarily
at the “compliance” level. 54 Nearly all paperwork and processing falls into
this category for Marines. Understanding the difference allows strategists
to discern between those norms that are likely to shift easily if members of
the organization are presented with a “better way” to pursue traditional
ends. Instrumental norms will yield to such logic. Intrinsic norms, however,
are valued for their own sake rather than the ends they achieve and are
thus profoundly resistant to change. When a norm achieves both instrumental
utility (a proven track record for achieving intended ends) and intrinsic
value (it fulfills emotional or moral needs created by the group), it may be
regarded as particularly robust. 55
Values
The concept of “values” explored here comprises character traits and material
goods that elevate one’s status in the relevant society. Proposed changes