Resocialization and total institutions: "You must unlearn what you have learned..."

In Empire Strikes Back, when Yoda tells Luke that he must "unlearn what he has learned," he is talking about resocializing him. This means un-learning the old ways he was taught and instead learning a new way of thinking and acting. Alcoholics Anonymous or weight watchers are good examples of groups that help resocialize individuals. Another way individuals are transformed by resocializing is through total institutions, such as a monastery, a prison or bootcamp.

Bootcamp must be especially powerful because, on a basic level, individuals are learning to not run or hide when being shot at and they are learning to shoot at others. Here is a video showing bootcamp and how recruits are re-socialized into Marines.


Another example of this from my own life is training in aikido. The image at the right is my dojo from Japan (I am in the back left...with hair :-) Aikido is a martial art that means the way of harmony of energy. It is a different concept of martial arts. It is not fighting, it is not even competitive. It is not, however, like Tai Chi. Aikido is practical and applicable to the world. But it requires training and a new way of thinking about the world, a resocialization.
Here is a link to a story about aikido in action (non-physically).
Here Steven Seagal talks about how he got started in aikido.  What really strikes me is that Seagal seems so tough but he says that he had to learn discipline, respect, gentleness and kindness.  And he says, "The martial arts taught me to be more understanding and the ability to harmonize with others...we don't want to hurt them."  That seems so opposite of what Americans think masculinity is.

Here is a video of physical aikido:

Post 5: Socialization into Gender

For this post, we have explored how socialization affects males and females and how something like gender can be so taken-for-granted.  In our culture there is a polarization of what it means to be female and male and heterosexual and lesbian or gay.  Our culture pushes individuals to opposite ends of a spectrum.  For this post, use examples from your own experience to show how our society socializes men and women into narrow boxes.  Explain how masculinity and femininity are a social construction.  How do the agents of socialization play a role in your experiences?  To demonstrate literacy, feel free to comment on the myriad sources we looked at for femininity (the research and videoes on my blog)  and the movies Killing Us Softly4, Tough Guise2, the Adolescent Homophobia...reading from Kimmel and Mahler about masculinity or the myriad other sources on my blog posts over the last 2 weeks.

Are you man enough to challenge masculinity?

Challenging Masculinity

First, as a group, look at these statistics:

Boys are 30% more likely to flunk.
Boys are 2.5 times more likely to be suspended.
Boys are 3 times more likely to be diagnosed with learning and emotional disabilities

Answer as a group:

1.  Is this surprising? How many people in the group thought it was surprising?  Why did those students say it was a surprise?

2.  Why do you think these statistics are true?  What is your hypothesis about why?

Next, please read the article from the NY Times posted on my blog.  Here is the link:

https://nyti.ms/2jRyc2r

After you have read that, please answer the following questions:

3.  How is boys’ performance in school related to masculinity?

4.  What research does social psychology provide about males at a young age (1-5yrs) and at older ages (teen years)?

5.  How does the growing number of women on college campuses affect men?

6.  What are some ways that colleges specifically, and society in general, can help males have a healthier self-identity?

                                                                                    

Thirdly, examine the attached statistics. 

7.  Look at statistics 1-8.  Which statistics are you most surprised/disturbed by?  Please write each statistic down from your group members:  What statistic most surprised or disturbed them?  Were they disturbed or surprised and why?

8.  Look at statistics 9-16.  Which statistics are you most surprised/disturbed by?  Please write each statistic down from your group members:  What statistic most surprised or disturbed them?  Were they disturbed or surprised and why?

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Gender and Violence Statistics

1.     Males are most often both the victims and the perpetrators in 90% of homicides. Source: U.S. Department of Justice, Bureau of Justice Statistics, Homicide Trends in the U.S.: Gender. http://www.ojp.usdoj.gov/bjs/homicide/gender.htm

2.   Over 85% of the people who commit murder are men, and the majority of women who commit murder usually do so as a defense against men who have been battering them for years. Ninety percent of the women in jail for murder are incarcerated for killing male batterers. Source: Bass, A. (Feb 24, 1992). “Women far less likely to kill than men; no one sure why.” The Boston Globe: p. 27.

3.     Women commit approximately 15% of all homicides. Source: Stark, E. (1990). Rethinking homicide: Violence, race, and the politics of gender. International Journal of Health and Services. 20 (1): 18.

4.     More than 90 women were murdered every week in 1991; 9 out of 10 were murdered by men. Source: Violence Against Women: A Majority Staff Report. Committee on the Judiciary, United States Senate, 102nd Congress. October 1992, p. 2.

5.   Ninety percent of people who commit violent physical assault are men. Males perpetrate 95% of all serious domestic violence. Source: U.S. Department of Justice, Bureau of Justice Statistics. Sourcebook of Criminal Justice Statistics Online. http://www.albany.edu/sourcebook/

6.      The U.S. Department of Justice estimates that 95% of reported assaults on spouses or ex-spouses are committed by men against women. Source: Douglas, H. (1991). Assessing violent couples. Families in Society, 72 (9): 525-535.

7.     It is estimated that 1 in 4 men will use violence against his partner in his lifetime. Source: Paymar, M. (2000). Violent no more: Helping men end domestic abuse. Alameda, CA: Hunter House Publications.

8.     Close to all – 99.8% – of the people in prison convicted of rape are men. Source: National Crime Statistics.

9.     Some 81% of men who beat their wives watched their fathers beat their mothers or were abused themselves. Source: U.S. Department of Justice, Bureau of Justice Statistics.

10.   Studies have found that men are responsible for 80% to 95% of child sexual abuse cases whether the child is male or female. Source: Thoringer, D.; Krivackska, J.; Laye-McDonough, M.; Jarrison, L.; Vincent, O.; & Hedlund, A. (1988). Prevention of child sexual abuse: An analysis of issues, educational programs and research findings. School Psychology Review. 17(4): 614-

11.   The majority of victims of men’s violence are other men (76% M, 24% F). Source: U.S. Department of Justice, Bureau of Justice Statistics.

12.   Out of 10,000 cases of road rage, over 95% of them were committed by men. Source: AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety, “Aggressive Driving.” http://www.aaafts.org/Text/agdr3study.pdf 34 STATISTICAL SOURCES

13.   Approximately three-quarters (76%) of binge drinkers are young males. Source: 1997 National Household Survey on Drug Abuse. http://www.samhsa.gov/oas/NHSDA/1997Main/Table of Contents.htm

14.   Males cause 86% of all drinking and driving incidents. Source: The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. http://www.nhtsa.dot.gov/people/injury/alcohol/alcupdate/alcprobupd.html

15.   One in 12, or 8.2 million women, will be stalked at some point in their lifetime. Eighty percent of the women stalked by intimates had also been physically assaulted by them. Source: Justice Department, November 1997

16.   Every day, 15 children are killed by guns. Source: National Center for Health Statistics, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 1993.

Comparing Boy Scout Patches and Girl Scout Patches

Look at the patches for Boy Scouts and Girl Scouts.  Look at the girl scout patches - Which patches do you think might benefit boy scouts that girl scouts do?  Choose three and state why.  Then, Read this article from the NY Times.  What do you think about the suggestions from the article?

Boys are socialized to have a very narrow and rigid definition of masculinity.

Mask You (Linity) 

After  examining the social construction of what it means to be feminine, we are now taking a look at the social construction of masculinity.

Question 1 : What are three words that describe what it means to be a man?




Question 2:  What are three words that describe someone who is not a real man?

Now examine some of these statistics:

Boys are 30% more likely to flunk.
Boys are 2.5 times more likely to be suspended.
Boys are 3 times more likely to be diagnosed with learning and emotional disabilities

Question 3:  Why do you think this is true?


Sociologists find that the construction of masculinity puts boys at risk in school:
There is a disconnect between school and masculinity; masculinity is constructed as “active” while school is constructed to be passive; sit-down, pay attention, take notes are docile, passive and feminine.

Other disturbing statistics:

40% of teenage girls 14-17yrs say they know someone their age who has been hit or beaten by a boyfriend.
1 of 5 college females will experience some form of dating violence from their male partner.
1 in 3 High School students have been or will be in an abusive relationship.

 Zacariah Foundation http://www.zcenter.org/index.htm

Why do you think this is true?


After carefully examining violence in America, I hope you see the larger dynamic of what is going on here.  Masculinity is a mask that many men wear in America. It is a way of masking or hiding who they really are in order to validating their self worth according to how the culture tells them they are supposed to be. Men in America are shaped by a culture that reinforces the idea that toughness, violence and aggression are normal ways of being male. They are also taught to not be vulnerable  or emotional or nurturing.  This creates a culture where overwhelmingly males are violent compared to females. Have you experienced this mask of masculinity? How? What are some other ways our culture should be constructing masculinity to provide validation for guys who are not violent? Are there examples out there that you know about? All of the agents of socialization play a role in this process.  Here is one example of the way the media creates this mask: