Abstract
Dire warnings about the imminence of World War III were common in the 1950s, as the world adjusted to the introduction of nuclear weapons. C. Wright Mills and other critical writers exaggerated the power of the military in American society and the weakness of civilian social forces. In the thirty years since Mills publishedThe Causes of World War III, the mass society has asserted itself and nonnuclear conflicts have been the major threats to world peace.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Gitlin, Todd 1987 The Sixties: Years of Hope, Days of Rage, New York: Bantam.
1985 “Militarism as a sociological problem: The political sociology of U.S. military spending, 1951–1983.” In R. Braungart (ed.), Research in Political Sociology:119–140. Greenwich, CT: JAI Press.
1987 “Public opinion concerning military spending in the United States: 1937–1985.” Journal of Political and Military Sociology 15:61–73.
Howe, Irving 1959 “Review ofThe Causes of World War III.” Dissent 6:191–196.
1956 The Power Elite. New York: Oxford University Press.
1960a The Causes of World War III. (1958*) New York: Ballantine Books.
1960b Listen Yankee: The Revolution in Cuba. New York: McGraw-Hill.
Sanders, Jerry 1983 Peddlers of Crisis. Boston: South End Press.
Schwartz, William andCharles Derber 1986 “Arms control: Misplaced focus.” Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists 42, 3:39–44.
Wolfe, Alan 1984 The Rise and Fall of the “Soviet Threat”: Domestic Souces of the Cold War Consensus. Boston: South End Press.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Goertzel, T.G. The Causes of World War III: Thirty years later. Sociol Forum 4, 241–246 (1989). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01112423
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01112423