Institutions Essay, Research Paper
Total Institutions
In the year 1961, the author, Erving Goffman, published a book
consisting of text and studies on mental patients and inmates, in what he has
called total institutions . There is a large focus on the life of mental
patients, due to his year long study in an American institution. However, the
center of my reading was based on the institutions and the lifestyles that
are reached when placed in such establishments.
When describing these institutions the author referred to them as
segregated communities. This is exactly what they are. One is cut off from
the outside society, with little or no contact at all until the inmates stay is
over. The character of these institutions is one that is an intimidating
barrier to the outside world. One who s barriers could be as simple as a
fence or a locked door, but as distinct and scary as the high walls, thick bars
and razor wire topped, electrically protected fences of today s top
penitentiaries. Every institution provides a new world to its members, in
most successful cases, changing the perception and reality of the inmate.
Through the years of research conducted by the author, Goffman
concluded that the total institutions in our societies breakdown into five
rough groupings. There is room to expand on each one of these groupings as
these findings are not precise, interpretation is the key when classifying the
establishments. His first conclusion was to classify all institutions that were
established to care for people who were incapable and harmless to
themselves and one another. One may relate to these institutions as the
may be part of our lives on a daily basis. This may be the nursing home
where the elderly, widow/widowed grandmother/father is living out his last
fine days on this earth. It could be one of the less than desirable child
rearing homes, such as an orphanage. Or this category may also include
where the unfortunate, the wanderer, and the vagrant all congregate, our
nations homeless shelters. Whatever the institution may be, it is defined by
a place where one may go to receive treatment, nourishment and attention
when there may be no other opportunity afforded them.
The second of these groupings, encompasses all of the institutions
that care for people who are incapable and threatening to communities and
themselves. This grouping is distinct in its findings and is very focused on
the mental hospitals and wellness centers in or society. In such
establishments, the patient is stripped of all things personal, to build a new
self. Stripping ones identity also allows doctors and nurses to begin to
identify the problems within the mind without the ability of the patient to
hide or be distracted by the outside world.
Institutions purportedly established to pursue work like tasks, and
justify themselves only on those grounds is the third grouping. Such
institutions include, but again are not limited to, boarding schools, military
academies, and the Job Corps. The idea behind these institutions is to
inform and educated one in a way that will help them to be successful in life.
The one factor that attracts the majority of its members is the chance to
make ones self better. To excel and to give hope to a better life , one with
direction and purpose.
The forth group of Goffman s conclusion, was that of establishments
that are made as retreats from ordinary life, while still serving as a station
for religion. This was very particular in its classification, the most specific
of all the groups. The only institutions that could be included were the ones,
that the majority of the world, has absolutely no idea, what is included in
the lifestyle of these institutions. The grouping includes, monasteries and
covenants, Buddhist temples and the like. For one to be include in such a
lifestyle is to truly believe in the higher power. to turn your life willfully
over to a way of life and to separated from everything that one has ever
known, would be of great difficulty. It would be doing this that would
profess ones faith, desire, and trueness to what one is doing.
Finally the institutions that are established to protect the community
against intentional dangers, such as, jails, juvenile holdings, and
penitentiaries. Again, these are a group of establishments that have the
ability to strip people of their identity for as long as they are a member of
this segregated community. All the aspects of everyday life are conducted
in one place and under one authority, usually a warden, sheriff or other
member of the staff. Ones self is stripped and one is thrown unwillingly
into a group or subculture of its own. In this new group, all activities are
completed at the same time, in the same space and together as a large
faceless assembly. The activities that are participated in are those that are
strictly scheduled throughout the day and roll from one into the other.
These rigorous schedules are all imposed by the officials that run the
institution. The goals of the institution are fulfilled by these schedules and
the tasks that are completed by the inmates, whether it may be a work
service crew maintaining the grounds or by a janitorial staff maintaining the
interior. Even though these institutions are similar in many instances to
others, the do however have more contact with the outside world and rely on
that contact to enhance its abilities to rehabilitate.
Total institutions are ones that will take away and identity and not ask
questions. One where inmates are moved as managed group and looked down
upon as secretive and bitter. Treating one like they are inferior and, guilty
and weak is no way to re-establish someone s life and return them to the
world. Total institutions are incompatible with family , which is one of the
strongest values that we need to maintain in this disintegrating world
environment. We need to embrace family and do what we can to maintain our
natural family values all throughout our travels and daily life.