Coercive Total and Assimilating Institutions

Institutions can be utilitarian, normative, or coercive ("Formal Organization Structure: Utilitarian, Normative & Coercive," n.d.). Coercive institutions are relatively easy to identify in that they have strict rules of membership and maintain tight control over members. Many coercive institutions are also "assimilating" in nature, in that they depend on the indoctrination of members. Cults are examples of coercive and assimilating institutions, and so is the military. These are both also "total" institutions because they create a self-contained society or subculture that exists separately and relatively independently from the dominant culture. In addition to cults and the military, there are only a few other overt examples of coercive institutions including some educational institutions and the criminal justice institutions for convicted felons, such as prisons. Although large organized religions like Christianity and Islam can be perceived of at times as being "total," as well as assimilating and coercive, they are generally more normative in their nature and function.

The military provides the most accessible example of a coercive institution. Once an individual decides to enlist, he or she must conform to certain rules and standards of behavior that set the person apart from the civilian society. As Dornbursch (1955) puts it, the function of the military academy is "to make officers out of civilians," through a concerted process of assimilation (p. 316). Assimilation occurs in a number of different ways: through the creation of a sense of shared mission and values usually linked to patriotism, honor and duty. Individuals are socially coerced into remaining a part of the organization, and would be shamed if they left it with a "dishonorable discharge." Through their uniforms and creation of a uniform appearance in hairstyle, military officers develop a "total" subculture that subsumes individual identity. When the person is home on leave, he or she switches identity to the role of wife, sister, husband, or son. In the military institution, though, that person's role is strictly defined by his or her rank.

Another way the military can be described as a "total" institution is the way it operates under different rules than other institutions in the society. In American society, there are separate courts for the military versus the civilian population. The civilian court system is designed to maximize transparency in order to minimize corruption. The military, on the other hand, has an "opaque system of justice," in which access to information is strictly regulated (Lardner, 2015, p. 1). Although the military hierarchy can have some benefits in the outside world, generally the institution functions independently from the civilian domain. Military officers are treated differently in many regards, not only in the justice system but also in minor ways, such as receiving priority boarding status on American flights.