ABS039 - Cultural values in the military: Trajectories of moral development in Brazilian army education

In this paper, our aim is to analyze how individual moral development is affected by military professional education, based on case studies from a qualitative longitudinal research that took place in the Brazilian Army Military Academy. From a cultural-psychological perspective of semiotic processes, we address moral values as hypergeneralized semiotic fields of normative character, deeply rooted in the affective-motivational system of individuals, which develop within meaningful experiences culturally nourished. Our perspective emphasizes the active, constructive role of the individuals, and stresses the mutual, coconstructive quality linking social practices to cultural values. Focusing on the moral socialization process of career combatant commissioned officers of the Brazilian Army, we shall discuss how specific meaningful experiences, provided to support the institutional semiotic mediation regarding military values, operate to promote changes in individual development, framing a particular way of feeling and interpreting the world.