Reference no: EM133379277
Assignment:
Chapter by Dyer looks at a total institution like the military "resocializes" new recruits into new beliefs, values, and norms through basic training. Basic training in the military is designed to achieve all of these things. The goal of basic training is to take a group of disparate, unrelated and unconnected strangers and turn them into a cohesive unit who will engage in combat, dutifully follow orders, and defend one another at all costs. This is done through role dispossession, abusive and degrading treatment (the "mortification of self"), and through efforts to promote and build group solidarity and unity.
One of Goffman's main points is that residents of total institutions often intentionally or unintentionally get re-socialized into new values, beliefs, social norms, and ways of interacting. People who join or are forced to join total institutions are often cut off from the social roles and statuses that they previously enjoyed that they provided them with a sense of their identity and their beliefs and values. Some total institutions, such as prisons, monasteries, or the army, even deliberately strip people of personal possessions from their previous lives. Goffman refers to this process as "role dispossession". Total institutions often try to break people down emotionally and psychologically by exposing them to harsh, unpleasant, or degrading living conditions, which Goffman refers to as the "mortification of self". Finally, people in total institutions are re-socialized as they take on a new identity in the institution, form new ties and relationships with others within the institution, and learn how to function and adapt based on the rules and norms of the institutions.
Reading by Dyer discusses the process of resocialization that occurs in basic training for new recruits in the army. Explain how this process of resocialization occurs, including Goffman's concepts "role dispossession" and "the mortification of self", and explain some of the reasons it is so successful.