Naming of Parts: Observations of Institutional Socialization in the First Week of British Army Phase 1 Training

Abstract

This article examines the formative socialization of British Army recruits in the first week of their Phase 1 Initial Training. Contextualized by individual and collective cultural variables, an extended participant observational case study commented on the process by which the British Army seeks to instill discipline and military identity in the early stages of transition from civilian to trained soldier. The person-environment relationship and individual exosystemic themes emerged as apparent influential variables, noting that a relationship appeared to exist between an early internalization of military values and subsequent formation of a moral identity, with associated primary and secondary adjustment behaviors.