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Thinking Sociologically
How were you socialized to view death and dying? What have you learned in your family about how to cope with death? Is death a taboo topic? If so, why?
Process of Resocialization
If you have experienced life in the military, a boarding school, a convent, a mental facility, or a prison, or had a major transition in your life such as divorce or the death of a spouse or child, you have experienced resocialization. Resocialization is the process of shedding one or more social positions and taking on others, which involves learning new norms, behaviors, and values suitable to the newly acquired status (Goffman 1961). Sometimes resocialization takes place in a total institution—a place that cuts people off from the rest of society and totally controls their lives during the process of resocialization. These include prisons, mental hospitals, monasteries, concentration camps, boarding schools, and military barracks. Bureaucratic regimentation and the manipulation of residents for the convenience of the staff is part of the routine (Goffman 1961).
We often associate resocialization with major developmental stages in adult life—leaving home to go to college or take a job, having a baby, divorce, retirement, and widowhood. Changes in status present opportunities to move in new and often exciting directions, such as going to college. Resocialization can also mean adjusting to living alone, raising children alone, loneliness, and possible financial problems.
Sometimes, resocialization occurs when individuals are forced to correct or reform behaviors defined as undesirable or deviant. Prison rehabilitation programs provide one example. However, research suggests that the difficulty in resocializing prisoners is rooted in the nature of the prison environment itself. Prisons are often coercive and violent environments, which may not provide the social supports necessary for bringing about positive change in a person’s attitudes and behaviors.
Although resocialization is the goal of self-help groups such as Alcoholics Anonymous, Gamblers Anonymous, Parents Anonymous, drug rehabilitation groups, and weight loss groups, relapse is common among participants. Some public sociologists work on trying to understand why there are such high rates of reversion to previous patterns of behavior. Former prison inmates are at especially high risk of repeating a crime, so public sociologists want to know what might make the resocialization “stick.” This is explored further in the discussion of policy. Clearly not all socialization or all resocialization is positive or functional. Sometimes resocialization alienates people from others and can contribute to violence or even terrorism. The next Sociology Around the World feature examines resocialization of young people into the terrorist group ISIS (or ISIL).
Sociology Around the World
ISIS Recruitment
Why do a small proportion of young people become radicalized and join terrorist organizations like ISIS (Islamic State in Iraq and Syria, also referred to as ISIL and Daesh) or other terrorist groups? To combat terrorist groups, we need to try to understand what attracts young people to such destructive, sometimes barbaric activities so that we can counter the negative impacts of resocialization.
Potential jihadi, strongly influenced by social media (often Facebook), often feel they have nothing to lose by becoming jihadists. In countries like England, Belgium, and France, a small percentage of youth from Muslim backgrounds feel alienated in societies in which their religion is looked upon as “different.” They become disaffected with their poor or middle-class lives and seek both meaning and adventure. For some, the idea of becoming a martyr makes death palatable, even desirable (Weaver 2015).
One half of ISIS fighters are born outside of the Middle East, and over 4,000 come from the West (Europe and other Global North countries). Most are males in their early 20s, of South Asian and Middle Eastern origins and with some university education. Recruiters begin the process of resocialization by appealing to youth looking for new meaning in life and drawing distinctions between the values of the Western world and a “new Islamic world order.”
Reports on recruitment of child soldiers from many countries shows children as “victims of brutal violence, exploited for supporting roles, subjected to indoctrination and conscription, and often used as child soldiers, spies, or suicide bombers” (UNODC 2018). Understanding the recruitment tactics begins the process of tackling the root causes of the problem.
Carefully planned recruitment strategies involve the resocialization of disaffected young people into jihadists (Gunaratna 2018). Steps include (a) establishing first contact (often through social media), (b) drawing out the personal stories and frustrations of potential recruits, (c) laying out the possibility of a new path with new values and ways of doing things, (d) encouraging potential recruits to form a new identification with ISIS and against the West’s non-Muslim way of life, and (e) promising a home and connections in a new caliphate (Islamic state) that will eventually spread throughout the world. Through this resocialization process, ISIS recruiters make new recruits feel that they have a purpose and power in a world from which they feel alienated (Torok 2015). These approaches can be especially appealing to those who see no opportunities in their lives or futures; many Palestinian youths fall into this category, among others who lack hope.
In ISIS recruiting efforts, potential jihadis learn about ISIS’s expansionist philosophy and absolute rule by fear; for infidels (nonbelievers), the message is “convert or die” (Torok 2015). Some recruits are vulnerable to indoctrination through exposure to graphic imagery (such as beheadings) in the name of ISIS’s “pure Islam” and claims by recruiters that they are living under “righteous Islamic rule” (Torok 2015). YouTube propaganda videos that “normalize” jihad and martyrdom give disaffected young people an alternative to their present lives. Recruits begin to anticipate excitement and acceptance and the promise of a good life on earth and martyrdom in heaven should they die. Leaving family and their former lives for a cause becomes a goal.
Efforts to prevent young people from being resocialized into a small, radicalized group of jihadis, alien to most peaceful and peace-loving Muslims, requires intervening in this resocialization process. Unfortunately, some efforts have resulted in Muslim organizations facing suspicion and civil rights abuses by law enforcement agencies and fellow citizens and can cause feelings of alienation and fuel the jihadi cause (Kundnani 2012).
Multiple individuals, groups, and institutions are involved in the socialization process. These socialization forces are referred to as agents of socialization.
Agents of Socialization: The Micro-Meso Connection
Agents of socialization are the transmitters of culture—the people, organizations, and institutions that help us define our identity and teach us how to thrive in our social world. Agents are the mechanism by which the self learns the values, beliefs, and behaviors of the culture. Agents of socialization help new members find their place, just as they prepare older members for new responsibilities in society. At the micro level, one’s family, one’s peer group, and local groups and organizations help people know how they should behave and what they should believe. At the meso level, formal sources of learning (e.g., education and religion)