Motive for joining up: Self sacrifice, self interest and social class, 1914 -18 / Richard White

In this article Richard White, the Memorial's first special project fellow, suggests that class differences accounts for some broad distinctions in motivies for enlistment in the first AIF. While the middle-class recruit was more likely to be genuinely moved by abstract motives like duty and honour, these motives were naturally interwoven with self-interest. For the working-class majority, however, the gap between self-interested motives and publicily respectable sentiments was more distinct. They joined up as a result of judicous self-interest, but enjoyed the respectability bestowed by public opinion.