Question

According to sociologist Irving Goffman, inmates entering prison are required to strip, shower, and wear assigned institutional clothing. In this process, they are searched, weighed, fingerprinted, photographed, and given no privacy even in showers and restrooms. This depersonalization process is referred to as a:

Answer 1

The answer is: Degradation ceremony.

Step-by-step explanation:

According to Goffman, degradation ceremonies often take place in total institutions, such as prisons, military camps and mental hospitals, among others. The degradation ceremony is a part of a depersonalization process in which the person is stripped from his former self, he is no longer a person, he has no name, but a number that is asigned to him. He must also leave behind his belongings and his family or friends and adjust to the new environment and especially to the new rules.

The degradation ceremony, further serving to the depersonalization process, it also serves as a way to lower the person's social status and reinforce the power and authority of those who control the total institution.