Chapter Nine –
Occupational Socialization
 Understand occupational socialization
 Understand the basic precepts of organizational
culture
 Understand the socialization process as it applies
to criminal justice agencies
 Be able to discuss the problems in the socialization
process in criminal justice agencies
 Understand the basic strategies for socialization
 The process by which a person acquires
the values, attitudes, and behaviors of an
ongoing occupational social system.
 It is a continuous process and may result
in both legal and illegal behaviors.
 Habitual behaviors, both good or bad,
persist as long as the attitudes, beliefs,
perceptions, habits and expectations of
the members remain supportive of them.
 A set of assumptions, values, and beliefs
shared by members of an organization.
 These create language, symbols, folklore,
and direct the behaviors of the
organizational members.
 Organizational cultures are invented,
discovered, or developed by groups in order
to cope with external influences and
internal change.
 Culture – complex whole of society and includes
knowledge, belief, art, law, morals, customs and
other capabilities and routines
 Values – desirable goals
 Norms – specify what people should do
 Folkways – standard ways of doing things
 Mores – strong views of right and wrong
 Laws – codified mores
 Social control – the process of perpetuating
conformity to the culture
 Sanctions – rewards and punishments for
conformity. Can be formal or informal.
 Subcultures – groups that have their own beliefs
and norms while sharing the values of the
dominant culture
 Counterculture – groups whose shared values
differ substantially from those of the dominant
culture
 Key questions
o How is the culture formed?
o What forces are critical in forming the culture?
o How the cultural arrangements impact the
organizational goals?
o How and to what extent administrators can
influence the cultural arrangement of their
agency?
 The socialization process is both formal and
informal.
 Stages
o Anticipatory – prior to employment prospective
employees adhere to certain behavioral standards
o Formal – occurs through formal training and active
supervision
o Informal – occurs though interaction with “significant
other” peers, managers and even clients
 A model of influences (Katz and Kahn,
1978) explains how socializing influences
affect the individual.
o Role expectations – standards of behavior
o Sent role – communication of expectations
o Received role – the individual’s perception and
understanding of the sent role
o Role behavior – the individual’s response to
the complex information received
 Most socialization problems are related to role
conflict.
o Compliance with one role expectation results in a lack
of compliance to another.
 Role conflict results in low job satisfaction, poor
performance, and stress.
 In extreme cases corruption and official deviance
can occur.
o Behavior that is illegal but encouraged by the
organization’s culture
 No evidence that authoritarian or violence
seeking individuals are attracted to police
work.
 Police officers are subjected to a rather intense
socialization process.
 Structural aspects that connect police officers
o Police work is depersonalizing
o Solidarity in the drive toward professionalism
o The ambiguous nature of police work
 Correctional employees are attracted to the
profession because of its regular pay and job
security.
 Most new correctional employees know very little
about the job.
 Unlike police officers, correctional officers often
delay formal training until after a few months of
on the job training and informal socialization.
 Informal socialization appears to be more
influential than formal socialization.
 Community expectations affect the socialization
process.
 Within the context of community expectations;
o Appropriate behaviors are rewarded with public
recognition, and
o Inappropriate behaviors are punished by public
criticism.
 Well trained and educated practitioners are more
likely to meet community expectations.
 The socialization process can be influenced
by effective and deliberate leadership.
 Changing the culture begins with changing
recruiting processes and selection criteria.
 Formalizing the training process and
distancing it from the actual work improve
and objectify the socialization process.
 Collective socialization – training new members as a
group (i.e. formal academy training)
 Sequential socialization – trainees pass through discrete
stages on the way to becoming a fully accepted member of
the group (e.g. post training probationary periods)
 Serial socialization – relies on experienced veterans to
develop newcomers (e.g. field training officer programs
 Divestiture strategies – attempt to strip away certain
characteristics before an individual is allowed into the
group (e.g. haircuts and special uniforms)
 The formal socialization process is a mechanism
for the organization to impose its dominant belief
system and rules upon its members.
 Subtle messages from the command staff are
influential in either discouraging or encouraging
unethical behaviors.
 Autocratic management styles tend to drive
wedges between employees and the organization
which may result in various forms of unethical
behavior.
 Occupational socialization is a process by which a member
of an organization acquires the values, attitudes, and
behaviors of an ongoing occupational social system.
 This process may include formal training and will include
social interactions with work peers.
 Organizational culture is a set of assumptions, values, and
beliefs shared by members of an organization.
 Organizational culture includes language, symbols, and
folklore that direct the behavior of the organization’s
members.
 Anticipatory socialization is often based upon media,
movies, and television program. It is often inaccurate.
 Formal socialization is often weak and informal
socialization is usually strong.
 Criminal justice practitioners face role conflict, role
ambiguity, conflicting expectations, and contradictory
goals. Hence, the socialization process presents conflicting
stimuli.
 Managers continuously influence the socialization process.
 Organizational socialization begins with recruiting and
selection and is accomplished though the orientation and
training processes.
 Supervision provides a continuous impact on formal
socialization.
 You have just been elected Sheriff of the Boone County
Sheriff’s Department.
 Your initial review of the department indicates a very
loosely managed and controlled organization.
 Training is haphazard, supervision is nearly
nonexistent, and deputies are allowed to come and go
as they please.
 The department recently lost a class action suit filed
by a group of Hispanic inmates who were repeatedly
physically assaulted by a group of ten jailers.
 You have come to the conclusion that the
Department’s subculture is corruption prone.
 Using the information from this chapter develop a
plan for addressing and changing the
Department’s organizational culture so that it
becomes more conducive to the standards of
ethical policing practice.