The Cost of Brotherhood: Station ‘Solidarity’ Risks Moral Injury
- Scotti Quam
- Apr 29
- 6 min read
It goes without saying that not all departments, stations, or crews are the same, but all are sworn to uphold the core tenants of Duty, Pride, Honor, and Tradition and a sense of ‘brotherhood’ is a timeless bond that crosses all four. That said, the fraternistic sensibilities of initiation into the fire service have become well researched, with an alarming spectrum of hazing activities still alive and well today.
Here, we aren't going to dive into the specifics of hazing practices or weigh in on the argument for or against them (we’ll save that for another discussion). What is of interest is here is what perpetuates this systemic practice beyond “tradition” and how does it contribute to firefighter burnout?
The Relationship Between Moral Injury and Brotherhood Hazing
Preliminary Context:
Workplace hazing (as well as hazing in general) is a subjective term used to describe activities, situations, or actions that that are required to become a member of an exclusive group (Thaden, 2019). It’s subjective because the perception and intention of the hazing determines its negative affect.
Moral injury is the direct result of witnessing, participating in, or plausibly denying knowledge of events that are in conflict with one’s moral beliefs and values. It can also be the result of unmet expectations (i.e. “I thought joining this group would be one thing and it turned out to be another”.) It results in feelings of guilt, shame, humiliation, and/or embarrassment.
It has been thought that the purpose of hazing rituals is to build group solidarity but research has not found this to be conclusively or even substantially the case (Cimino, 2023). Hazing reinforces deference and social hierarchy by leveraging influence over authority.
So given the negative effects, why does this practice continue? To answer this question, we have to consider the roles of self and group identity.
Self-Identity: Who you autonomously are
How we see ourselves directly impacts how we feel about ourselves.
Carl Rogers proposed The Self-Concept Theory, which calls out 3 distinct perspectives of self:
Self-Image: - how you see yourself
Self-Esteem - how you value yourself
Ideal Self - the person you want/aspire to be
When the gap between who you are and who you want to be is too great it causes anxiety, unhappiness, and cognitive dissonance. This gap widens and shrinks, as does the severity of its impact, based on a person’s ability to improve their self-perception. When you lack a strong sense of self, your external world becomes much more uncertain. Decisions hold too many options. Other people’s opinions carry too much weight. This is when people start letting other individuals, groups, and affiliations define who they are—even if they don’t agree with [all] their morals, beliefs, and values.
The Breakthrough:
Mantras and positive vibes don’t cut it when what you need is to prove yourself (to yourself!) You need to develop a practice of consistency.
Consistency > Perfection. They say practice makes perfect, but perfect doesn’t make for practice. Consistency is about putting in effortful intention over and over again, even when it doesn’t result exactly like we wanted it to. Practice is getting up and doing something over again and again because we get better at things we have more and more experience doing.
So what does this look like in reality…
Step 1: Do what you tell yourself you are going to do.
Step 2: Understand your why: What is your practice aimed at learning/accomplishing?
Step 3: What is the minimum viable effort you can commit to in Step 1, in the name of Step 2?
Step 4: Look for evidence of your success. No matter how small, every time you demonstrate that you can follow through on the actions that keep you in your integrity is a WIN.
Group-Identity: How a group defines itself
Social Identity challenges us to not let “fitting in” take precedence over [true] belonging.
Fitting In is when you take up or comply with certain behaviors to gain acceptance by others.
Belonging is when the group inherently accepts you for who you are without having to “try” or “earn” acceptance.
Whether you find yourself “fitting in” or belonging to a group, there are several components that form collectively shared identity. Social Identity Theory (Tajfel + Turner) has 4 components that bring identity to a group:
Social Categorization
Social Identification
Social Comparison
Positive Distinctiveness (seeing your in-group as “better than”)
A group by its nature has a set of traits that distinguish it from other groups. Social categorization looks for inter-group similarities while social comparison looks for inter-group differences. Social identification are the traits the group collectively values, that unites its members and sets them apart from other similar categorical groups.
Positive distinctiveness is when a group asserts their inherent worth is higher over another based on their specific set of traits or values:
Example:
Shift 1) “We run the most calls so we’re the best.”
Shift 2) "No, we do the most training so we’re the best.”
Shift 3) “No, we have the most years of experience so we’re the best.”
The Breakthrough:
Organizational culture and shift culture is upheld by deference and submissiveness. When “hazing” of any severity is common practice, respect is eroded, and with it, trust. The role of each person on a crew (especially those who are probies and rookies) is important. The work of a newcomer is not menial—no purposeful task is. The respect of each position is what builds the trust that is the glue of true solidarity. Brotherhood isn’t about staying in check, it’s about having someone’s back.
So what does this look like in reality…
Step 1: Don’t change the roles and responsibilities, change the level of integrity you treat each with.
Step 2: Treat learning as an achievement, not a punishment
Step 3: Demonstrate empathy rather than make someone the butt of the joke
Step 4: Look for evidence of synergy—morale goes up like a high tide rises all boats.
There’s pride to be taken in contributing to the success of others.
Moral Injury results when seeking trust is met with rebuke.
Whether you witness, perpetuate, or are victim to it, hazing is NOT bonding. Brotherhood is about a shared, collective experience that bonds and protects its members who take care of their own. But when initiation into such a culture seeks to undermine an individual’s self-worth in exchange for acceptance, group identity results in emotionally isolated individuals unable to safely seek social support from the bonds of brotherhood.
We need to address the roots of social support as being planted in non-emergency interactions.
It’s not a systematic problem, it’s a systemic problem.
The gamut of teasing to violence affects each individual differently, but all acts that target a person target the integrity of the collective.
Since the tide does not turn overnight, doing your part starts with learning about yourself and your own responses first.
How to safely feel, face, and control your emotional responses by providing you with a toolbox of strategies that build upon one another week over week
How to integrate your special people into your mental/emotional processing that safely builds trust and support that protects you against mental instability.
The lynchpin to all of this is TRUST.
Trust = Character + Competence.
We have to trust our own agency over our emotions to trust others interpersonally and organizationally. Can therapy help us to do this? Sure. But the fire service could also solve this problem by fostering solutions that regenerate social infrastructure and treat mental health as an outcome, not an action.
Sources:
Branden, N. (1994). The six pillars of self-esteem. Bantam Books, Inc.
Cimino, Aldo & Thomas, Benjamin. (2023). Corrigendum to “Does hazing actually increase group solidarity? Re-examining a classic theory with a modern fraternity” [Evolution and Human Behavior 43(5) (2022) 408–417]. Evolution and Human Behavior. 10.1016/j.evolhumbehav.2022.12.004.
Covey, S. M. R., & Merrill, R. R. (2006). The speed of trust: The one thing that changes everything. Free Press.
Elison, Jeff & Harter, S.. (2007). Humiliation: Causes, correlates, and consequences. The self-conscious emotions: Theory and research. 310-329.
Kant, Leo, and Elisabeth Norman. “You Must Be Joking! Benign Violations, Power Asymmetry, and Humor in a Broader Social Context.” Frontiers in psychology vol. 10 1380. 19 Jun. 2019, doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2019.01380
Metzger, Elizabeth C et al. “Exploring hazing experiences and perceived physical and mental health outcomes in the United States military through a cross-sectional study.” Injury epidemiology vol. 13,1 13. 12 Jan. 2026, doi:10.1186/s40621-025-00650-5
von Thaden, T. L., Khurram, S., Jahnke, S., Haddock, C. K., Poston, W. S., Hollerbach, B. S., & Kaipust, C. M. (2019). Welcome to the Brotherhood: The Perception of Initiation and Hazing Rituals in the Fire Service. International Journal of Humanities and Social Science, 9(12). https://doi.org/10.30845/ijhss.v9n12p8
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