SOC 201 Chapter Notes - Chapter 10: Total Institution, Erving Goffman
Document Summary
They are no longer persons but objects; not men or women but inmates, . The goal of the total institution is to take away the individual"s self and give him or her a new one more in keeping with the needs of the total institution. By way of example, goffman offered this account of the resocialization of cadets in a military academy: For two months . the swab is not allowed to leave the base or to engage in social intercourse with noncadets. This complete isolation helps to produce a unified group of swabs, rather than a heterogeneous collection of people of high and low status. Uniforms are issued on the first day, and discussions of wealth and family are taboo. Although the pay of the cadet is very low, he is not permitted to receive money from home. The role of the cadet must supersede other roles the individual has been accustomed to play.
