A total institution or residential institution is a residential facility where a great number of similarly situated people, cut off from the wider community for a considerable time, together lead an enclosed, formally administered, and regimented round of life. Privacy and civil liberties are limited or non-existent in total institutions, as all aspects of life including

sleep Sleep is a state of reduced mental and physical activity in which consciousness is altered and certain Sensory nervous system, sensory activity is inhibited. During sleep, there is a marked decrease in muscle activity and interactions with th ...

play Play most commonly refers to: * Play (activity), an activity done for enjoyment * Play (theatre), a work of drama Play may refer also to: Computers and technology * Google Play, a digital content service * Play Framework, a Java framework * P ...

, and work, are conducted in the same place. The concept is mostly associated with the work of sociologist

Erving Goffman Erving Goffman (11 June 1922 – 19 November 1982) was a Canadian-born American sociologist, social psychologist, and writer, considered by some "the most influential American sociologist of the twentieth century". In 2007, '' The Time ...

Etymology

The term is sometimes credited as having been coined and defined by

Canadian Canadians () are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of their being ''C ...

sociologist

in his paper "On the Characteristics of Total Institutions", presented in April 1957 at the Walter Reed Institute's Symposium on Preventive and Social Psychiatry. An expanded version appeared in Donald Cressey's collection, ''The Prison'', and was reprinted in Goffman's 1961 collection, '' Asylums''. Fine and Manning, however, note that Goffman heard the term in lectures by Everett Hughes (likely during the late-1940s seminar, "Work and Occupations"). Regardless of whether Goffman coined the term, he can be credited with popularizing it. The totality of total institutions varies according to the type of institution, guiding ideology, etc.

Typology

Total institutions are divided by Goffman into five different types: # institutions established to care for people felt to be both harmless and incapable:

orphanage An orphanage is a residential institution, total institution or group home, devoted to the care of orphans and children who, for various reasons, cannot be cared by their biological families. The parents may be deceased, absent, or abusi ...

s, poor houses, most types of

group home A group home, congregate living facility, care home (the latter especially in British English and Australian English), adult family home, etc., is a structured and supervised residence model that provides assisted living as well as medical car ...

s and

nursing home A nursing home is a facility for the residential care of older people, senior citizens, or disabled people. Nursing homes may also be referred to as care homes, skilled nursing facilities (SNF), or long-term care facilities. Often, these terms ...

s. # places established to care for people felt to be incapable of looking after themselves and a threat to the community, albeit an unintended one:

leprosarium A leper colony, also known by #Names, many other names, is an isolated community for the quarantining and treatment of lepers, people suffering from leprosy. ''Mycobacterium leprae, M. leprae'', the bacterium responsible for leprosy, is believ ...

s, mental hospitals, certain types of group homes, and tuberculosis sanitariums. # institutions organised to protect the community against what are felt to be intentional dangers to it, with the welfare of the people thus sequestered not the immediate issue: concentration camps, P.O.W. camps, penitentiaries, and

jail A prison, also known as a jail, gaol, penitentiary, detention center, correction center, correctional facility, or remand center, is a facility where people are imprisoned under the authority of the state, usually as punishment for various cr ...

s. # institutions purportedly established to better pursue some worklike tasks and justifying themselves only on these instrumental grounds: colonial compounds, work camps,

boarding school A boarding school is a school where pupils live within premises while being given formal instruction. The word "boarding" is used in the sense of "room and board", i.e. lodging and meals. They have existed for many centuries, and now extend acr ...

ships A ship is a large vessel that travels the world's oceans and other navigable waterways, carrying cargo or passengers, or in support of specialized missions, such as defense, research and fishing. Ships are generally distinguished from boats, ...

, army

barracks Barracks are buildings used to accommodate military personnel and quasi-military personnel such as police. The English word originates from the 17th century via French and Italian from an old Spanish word 'soldier's tent', but today barracks ar ...

, and large mansions from the point of view of those who live in the servants' quarters. # establishments designed as retreats from the world even while often serving also as training stations for the religious; examples are convents, abbeys, monasteries, and other cloisters. David Rothman states that "historians have confirmed the validity of Goffman's concept of 'total institutions' which minimizes the differences in formal mission to establish a unity of design and structure." In '' Discipline and Punish'',

Michel Foucault Paul-Michel Foucault ( , ; ; 15 October 192625 June 1984) was a French History of ideas, historian of ideas and Philosophy, philosopher who was also an author, Literary criticism, literary critic, Activism, political activist, and teacher. Fo ...

discussed total institutions in the language of ''complete and austere institutions''.

Nursing homes

According to S. Lammers and A. Verhey, some 80 percent of Americans will ultimately die not in their home, but in a total institution.

Tourism

Sociologists have pointed out that tourist venues, such as

cruise ship Cruise ships are large passenger ships used mainly for vacationing. Unlike ocean liners, which are used for transport, cruise ships typically embark on round-trip voyages to various ports of call, where passengers may go on Tourism, tours k ...

s, are acquiring many of the characteristics of total institutions. Tourists may not be aware that they are being controlled, even constrained, but the environment has been designed to subtly manipulate the behavior of patrons. These examples differ from the traditional examples in that the influence is short term.George Ritzer and Allan Liska, "'McDisneyization' and 'Post-tourism:' Complementary Perspectives on Contemporary Tourism," ''Tourism: The Experience of Tourism'', ed. Stephen Williams, vol. 4, ''New Directions and Alternative Tourism'' (London: Routledge, 2004), 65-82.

Etymology

Typology

Nursing homes

Tourism

See also

References

Further reading