Page 17 - Flipbook: Sociology Shortcuts Issue 3
P. 17
While these are the main forms
of socialisation there are other
forms we can note that apply in
certain situations:
Anticipatory
It's quite rare to go into a situation like a job
interview with no knowledge about that
situation. Even if someone has no personal
experience of job interviews they can
imagine what's involved, because they've
read about other people's experiences,
watched TV programmes about interviews Resocialisation
and so forth.
There are times we must learn to play
An individual may, therefore, anticipate the
demands of the role ("how to be an new roles and in some situations, such as
interviewee") and rehearse how to play the joining the armed forces or going to
role correctly - the appropriate way to dress, prison, individuals are forced to undergo a
to speak to the interviewer and so forth. radical form of resocialisation that
Goffman (1961) calls mortification; the
individual is subjected to a process, such
as being stripped of their civilian clothes,
dressed in an identical uniform and only
being allowed to speak when spoken to by
Developmental someone in authority, designed to kill-off
("mortify") previously taken-for-granted
Reflects the fact socialisation is a complex, behaviours. Once mortification is
life-long process; we are constantly being complete the individual can be
forced to adapt to changing situations and resocialised into the norms and values of
circumstances that involve learning new their new role.
and different roles, relationships and
behaviours. While this is an extreme example to
illustrate a point, there are plenty of times
in our lives when we experience milder
forms of resocialisation - such as starting
school for the first time or when we get a
new job…
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