What do citizens owe the government? And conversely, what does the government owe its people, particularly those who volunteer for military or public service? The works in this portfolio attempt to answer these questions and delve into the social contract between the American government and its citizens, often through the lens of sexual orientation. Using original correspondence from the Center for War Letters at Chapman University as well as existing works concerning Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell and the Lavender Scare, the collected essays aim to tell the story of everyday Americans who answered the call to public service only to find indifferent or even hostile treatment by government they sought to serve. Through poor planning or discrimination, the U.S. government routinely violated its oath to its people at key points throughout the nation’s history, but this portfolio demonstrates how dedicated citizens strove to update and improve the social contract in order to produce the more perfect union promised in the nation’s constitution.
","abstract_html":"<p>What do citizens owe the government? And conversely, what does the government owe its people, particularly those who volunteer for military or public service? The works in this portfolio attempt to answer these questions and delve into the social contract between the American government and its citizens, often through the lens of sexual orientation. Using original correspondence from the Center for War Letters at Chapman University as well as existing works concerning Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell and the Lavender Scare, the collected essays aim to tell the story of everyday Americans who answered the call to public service only to find indifferent or even hostile treatment by government they sought to serve. Through poor planning or discrimination, the U.S. government routinely violated its oath to its people at key points throughout the nation’s history, but this portfolio demonstrates how dedicated citizens strove to update and improve the social contract in order to produce the more perfect union promised in the nation’s constitution.</p>","abstract_has_math":false,"creators":["Corteville, Brian"],"institution":null,"degree_name":"Master of Arts (MA)","degree_level":"Thesis","degree_discipline":"War and Society","degree_department":null,"school":null,"contributors":["Dr. Kyle Longley","Prof. Kyndra Rotunda","Dr. Mateo Jarquín"],"advisors":[],"committee_chairs":[],"committee_members":[],"year":2024,"date_issued":"2024-01-01T08:00:00Z","date_published":"2024-01-01T08:00:00Z","updated_at":"2026-07-24T01:38:37Z","subjects":["United States History"],"languages":[],"rights":[],"rights_urls":[],"identifier_entries":[]},"links":{"outbound_url":"https://digitalcommons.chapman.edu/war_and_society_theses/36","outbound_label":"Repository record","outbound_source":"dc:identifier"},"metadata_groups":[{"id":"people","label":"People","entries":[{"key":"dc:contributor","label":"Contributor","values":["Dr. Kyle Longley","Prof. Kyndra Rotunda","Dr. Mateo Jarquín"]},{"key":"dc:creator","label":"Author","values":["Corteville, Brian"]}]},{"id":"academic_context","label":"Academic Context","entries":[{"key":"thesis:degree_discipline","label":"Discipline","values":["War and Society"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_level","label":"Degree Level","values":["Thesis"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_name","label":"Degree Name","values":["Master of Arts (MA)"]}]},{"id":"subjects_keywords","label":"Subjects and Keywords","entries":[{"key":"dc:subject","label":"Dc Subject","values":["United States History"]}]},{"id":"identifiers","label":"Identifiers","entries":[{"key":"dc:identifier","label":"Identifier","values":["https://digitalcommons.chapman.edu/war_and_society_theses/36"]}]},{"id":"additional","label":"Additional Metadata","entries":[{"key":"dc:description.abstract","label":"Abstract","values":["What do citizens owe the government? And conversely, what does the government owe its people, particularly those who volunteer for military or public service? The works in this portfolio attempt to answer these questions and delve into the social contract between the American government and its citizens, often through the lens of sexual orientation. Using original correspondence from the Center for War Letters at Chapman University as well as existing works concerning Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell and the Lavender Scare, the collected essays aim to tell the story of everyday Americans who answered the call to public service only to find indifferent or even hostile treatment by government they sought to serve. Through poor planning or discrimination, the U.S. government routinely violated its oath to its people at key points throughout the nation’s history, but this portfolio demonstrates how dedicated citizens strove to update and improve the social contract in order to produce the more perfect union promised in the nation’s constitution.
"]},{"key":"dc:source","label":"Dc Source","values":["Corteville, Brian. \"The Social Contract: Duty and Discrimination in Public Service.\" Master's thesis, Chapman University, 2024. https://doi.org/10.36837/chapman.000523"]},{"key":"dc:title","label":"Title","values":["The Social Contract: Duty and Discrimination in Public Service"]}]}],"canonical_facts":{"dc:contributor":["Dr. Kyle Longley","Prof. Kyndra Rotunda","Dr. Mateo Jarquín"],"dc:creator":["Corteville, Brian"],"dc:description.abstract":["What do citizens owe the government? And conversely, what does the government owe its people, particularly those who volunteer for military or public service? The works in this portfolio attempt to answer these questions and delve into the social contract between the American government and its citizens, often through the lens of sexual orientation. Using original correspondence from the Center for War Letters at Chapman University as well as existing works concerning Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell and the Lavender Scare, the collected essays aim to tell the story of everyday Americans who answered the call to public service only to find indifferent or even hostile treatment by government they sought to serve. Through poor planning or discrimination, the U.S. government routinely violated its oath to its people at key points throughout the nation’s history, but this portfolio demonstrates how dedicated citizens strove to update and improve the social contract in order to produce the more perfect union promised in the nation’s constitution.
"],"dc:identifier":["https://digitalcommons.chapman.edu/war_and_society_theses/36"],"dc:source":["Corteville, Brian. \"The Social Contract: Duty and Discrimination in Public Service.\" Master's thesis, Chapman University, 2024. https://doi.org/10.36837/chapman.000523"],"dc:subject":["United States History"],"dc:title":["The Social Contract: Duty and Discrimination in Public Service"],"thesis:degree_discipline":["War and Society"],"thesis:degree_level":["Thesis"],"thesis:degree_name":["Master of Arts (MA)"]},"updated_at":"2026-07-24T01:38:37Z"}