Question

On the first day of basic training in the army, pvt. n. terprize has his civilian clothes replaced with army "greens," has his hair shaved off, loses his privacy, and finds that he must use a communal bathroom and other people decide when he eats, sleeps, and what job he does. erving goffman would say that all these humiliating activities are part of _____.

Answer 1

Erving Goffman would say that all these humiliating activities on the first day of basic training in the army (replaced clothes, shaved hair, communal bathroom..) are part of a degradation ceremony. Erving Goffman is the father of Labeling Theory. In his book Asylums: Essays on the Social Situation of Mental Patients and Other Inmates he looked at how society deals with deviance by codifying and enforcing social roles and identities and how the degradation ceremony serves to lower a person's social status within a group or within society in general.