Final answer:
Coercive organizations are institutions like prisons or mental hospitals that individuals are compelled to join, where a controlled environment and strict rules govern behavior. Erving Goffman categorized these as total institutions, and similar coercive mechanisms can also arise in societal informal sanctions or international relations through foreign aid and sanctions.
Step-by-step explanation:
Coercive organizations are institutions that individuals join not by choice but under compulsion. Such organizations often employ punishment-based interventions, which might be chosen arbitrarily and could include measures where members are not able to freely leave, such as prisons or mental hospitals. These organizations create a controlled environment where traditional freedoms are curtailed, and behavior is strictly monitored and managed.
Notably, sociologist Erving Goffman described prisons and military barracks as total institutions due to the regulated nature of the daily lives of their members. Actions within these institutions are guided by strict rules, and failure to comply with these rules can lead to various forms of punishment. This might include the removal of privileges or solitary confinement, for example.
In a broader societal context, coercive practices may also be applied indirectly, such as through informal sanctions for socially deviant behavior or at the international level through measures like sanctions or aid leveraged to influence state behavior. Regardless of the form they take, these coercive measures are centrally about control and the enforcement of compliance with set standards or rules.