Degradation Ceremony

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Degradation Ceremony, in the literal sense, is a ritual in some military institutions. In it, a transgressor of rank is physically stripped of the emblems of that rank. For example, epaulets might be ripped off shoulders, swords taken and broken, caps knocked away, and medals torn out and dashed upon the ground. A famous example was the ceremony degrading Alfred Dreyfus in 1895. Given the extreme emphasis on personal honor in such institutions, publicly degrading and disrespecting someone in this way emphasizes their inability to retaliate, and is thus tantamount to declaring them outside normal protections.

This quality of stigmatization has led to the phrase's use as a sociological term (applied by Harold Garfinkel) for any act of public communication whose intent is to stigmatize the subject(s) as being unworthy of the normal privileges of their previous role in a society or institution.

Other ritual behaviors in groups are also degrading, but the term does not specifically refer to these. For example, hazing.

It is no longer used in the United States, where it has been replaced by the dishonorable discharge.

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