Soc exam 3
Total Instituion
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A place of residence and work, people are stripped of individuality, i.e.
Prisons, hospitals, military. Goal: take away the individuals self and give
him or her a new one more in keeping with the needs of the total institution.
*
total institutions frequently fail to meet their goals, likely that no total
institution has the power to completely erase its inhabitant’s
individuality
Characteristics of a total institution
•A large number of people
•Cut off from wider society for a long time
•Enclosed with a natural barrier or fences
•Formally administered - there is a boss (leader)
Evidence paris island is a total institution
There were a lot of people all together in this isolated situation, they are cut off
from wider societies norms, values, and beliefs, they are fenced into the camp, can
only go where sergeant tells them, must address sergeant by sir, all in uniform etc.
Resocialization
an intense socialization process
•Strip away the existing social self (depersonalization)
•Learn new roles, values and beliefs (degradation)
•Requires a total institution (such as boot camp) works best when newcomers want
to be resocialized (military or religious setting)
Degradation
insults and abuse
-tasks are menial, exhausting, filthy, boring
objective: strip away sense of self-worth, replace "old worthless self" with "better,
new self"
Depersonalization
initial phase of resocialization in which those things that indicate individual
differences (haircuts, names, clothing) are stripped away
"swinging dick"
large number of dudes
"mary jane rottencrotch (suzie rottencrotch)"
the girl next door
"PT"
physical training
“assholes and elbows"
hurry up
"head”
bathroom
"magic show"
religious service
agents of socialization
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family
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school
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media!!
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peers
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work
cultural norms reflect____
cultural values
cultures have norms because they value certain things
when people deviant from norms, they are declaring___
"i dont hold this value"
how is deviance relative
-the rules and norms we choose to follow vary by culture to culture, or depending
on who you ask
-a family may have different norms than state law does
opposite of deviant
normative
norms vary...
-across cultures/societies/subcultures
-over time
relativity of deviance
what is considered to be deviant varies across societies, norms varies across time
and place, norms vary within particular society - different subgroups have different
norms
what is/isn’t deviant will change over time, in a society something at one
point can be deviant, and then a decade later not deviant
Lombroso (nonsociological explanation of deviance)
defined criminals by their body features (lower foreheads, higher cheekbones,
protruding ears, more body hair) this was proven not to be the case
Psychological factors "aggressive personality" (nonsociological explanation of
deviance)
psychological theorists think that some forms of deviance are manifestations of
certain personalities, such as violence being a manifestation of an aggressive
personality
