Question

Fred has just joined a fraternity. as part of his initiation, he has been forced to cook for the fraternity brothers, clean the frat house, and address the fraternity members as "sir." this is an example of what harold garfinkel termed ________.

Answer 1

This is an example of degradation ceremony where a person's whole identity is being lowered which is relevant to the group. It is a way of degrading a person's total identity by doing certain things or instructing things to a person that will make his personality or identity be affected, lowering his or her status or identity. It is like how Fred has been doing chores to the group for it is a type of ceremony being done to new members where their identity as a member is being lowered for they are new.