Resocialization

If socialization is the lifelong process of learning the values and norms of a given society, then resocialization refers to undergoing this process again by drastically changing one’s values and beliefs. Typically, this occurs in a new environment where the old rules no longer apply. According to Erving Goffman (1961) total institutions such as private boarding schools, the military, jails or prisons, and mental institutions provide such environments because they are effectively cut off from the larger society and are highly regulated. This regulation includes strict norms (i.e., uniform, hairstyle, daily schedule, communication, etc.) and comprehensive rules. Typically, a single authority figure such as a prison warden, drill sergeant, high ranking military officer, or headmaster is in charge and oversees staff to enforce the regulations.

Figure 1. In basic training, members of the Air Force are taught to walk, move, and look like each other. (Photo courtesy of Staff Sergeant Desiree N. Palacios, U.S. Air Force/Wikimedia Commons

Initiation Rituals

These examples of resocialization are within total institutions, but the process is sometimes more gentle outside of these extreme environments. To enter a senior care home, an elderly person often must leave a family home and give up many belongings which were part of his or her long-standing identity. Though caretakers guide the elderly compassionately, the process can still produce feelings of loss and disorientation. 

Returning to a more normal life after having lived in a total institution requires yet another process of resocialization. In the U.S. military, soldiers learn discipline and a capacity for hard work. They set aside personal goals to achieve a mission, and they take pride in the accomplishments of their units. Many soldiers who leave the military transition these skills into excellent careers. Others find themselves lost upon leaving, uncertain about the outside world and what to do next. The process of resocialization to civilian life is not a simple one.

Similarly, for people who have spent time in jail or prison, resocialization to the outside world is extremely difficult. One classic example from The Shawshank Redemption (1994) occurs when “Red” (Morgan Freeman), is released as an elderly Black man who had spent his life in prison. He obtains a job working as a bagger at the grocery store and asks the white manager, “Restroom break, Boss?” to which his manager waves him over and says, “You don’t need to ask me every time you need to take a piss.”^[1] This quick exchange signals Red’s difficulty in acclimating to the freedom to use the restroom as needed, and also demonstrates the sweeping societal changes in racial dynamics he missed while in prison. The scene also displays his manager’s discomfort with the racial and age-based dynamics in play. 

Other types of organizations may utilize or extend the concept of resocialization with regard to changing people’s behaviors. Corporate trainers (and training researchers) sometimes emphasize the need for trainees to shed their old behaviors and adopt entirely new ones. When the people return to their jobs after training, they may be called to leave their old behaviors behind. Similarly, if an entire team goes for training, they may be called to leave their culture behind (Weinbauer-Heidel 2019). Not all such training would apply the resocialization metaphor, but behavioral or personal-professional areas such as stress management or priority/project management might borrow from resocialization principles in order to make the training effective.