Resocialization and Total
Institutions
What do you think these terms
mean?
Resocialization
• The process of being re-trained to function
within a new society
– Break with past experiences and the learning of new
values and norms
Voluntary vs. Involuntary
Resocialization
• Voluntary: Individuals
choose to assume a
new status
– Religious conversion
– Moving to a new country
and adapting
– Joining the military
• Involuntary: Against a
person’s wishes
– Prison
– Mandatory counselling
– Drug rehabilitation
Resocialization “out of” Sports
• One’s sense of self
changes when you stop
playing
• Voluntary (ex.
Retirement)
• Involuntary (ex. Injuries)
• What factors could make
this transition more
difficult?
• 66% of retired NFL players
have emotional problems
• 1 of 6 divorced after 6
months
• Cricket players have
highest suicide rates
among retired players
• Key to success is to reidentify one’s sense of
self
Resocialization in Total Institutions
• Total Institutions
(Goffman): Setting in
which people are
isolated from the rest of
society for a specific
period of time and
under tight control
• Ex. Prisons, Boot
Camps, Monasteries,
Psychiatric Hospitals
Examples of Total Institutions
(Goffman)
• Care for people both harmless and incapable
– Orphanages, nursing homes
• Care for people incapable of looking after themselves
– Mental hospitals
• Institutions to protect the community
– Jails, concentration camps
• Institutions to pursue work-like tasks
– Colonial compounds, work camps, boarding school, army
barracks
• Retreats from the world
– Monasteries, convents
Athletes in Total Institutions
• Aaron Hernandez – Football Player in Prison
• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WIJAOnPq
ff0
What happens in Resocialization under
a total institution?
• The goal is to drastically change a person’s
identity
• 2-step process
– 1st: person’s identity must be erased/reprogrammed
– 2nd: must be replaced with an institutionally created
one
How is this new identity built?
• Number of ways
–
–
–
–
–
–
Uniform appearance (haircut, clothing, etc.)
Humiliation
Rename
Rewards and punishments
Expectation of conformity
Encouragement
Is this approach effective?
• Can create dependency on the institution
– Inmates who, upon release, commit a crime in order
to go back to jail as it is the only life they know
– Unable to resocialize outside of prison
Total Institutions and Resocialization –
“The Shawshank Redemption”
• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TsiFanovO
SI
Release and Recidivism
• When inmates are released from correctional
institutions, the hope is that they will not
experience recidivism.
• The return to illegal activity after release.
• Why do you think these people return to
illegal activities?
Release and Recidivism
• In one study, about 40% of released prisoners
had been arrested again or had had their
parole revoked.
• Other studies have found recidivism rates as
high as 75%.
PowerPoint 12 – The End