Asylums: Essays on the Social Situation of Mental Patients and Other Inmates

Goffman digs into the personal psychology and interpersonal social dynamics among inmates and staff in asylums, with comparison against other "total institutions" such as barracks, boarding schools, hospitals, monasteries etc. Not quite of the same general interest as other of Goffman's works, but with enough relevance to outsiders of these institutions to keep it interesting.
His insight into psychological and behavioural adjustments, stages of acclimatisation, group dynamics, ceremonies, rituals and the underlife and internal economy that exists outside the written rules, all bring colour to a side of society that most of us will never be familiar with first hand.
Easily read and well written, but probably best to start with his show more "Presentation of Self in Everyday Life" unless you have a specific interest in Asylums etc. show less

This guy has done his homework as his descriptions mirror real life and rightly so.

An excellent book for understanding all types of "total institutions"!

9/7/22

Con el objetivo de aprender algo sobre el mundo social de los pacientes hospitalizados. Erving Goffman desarrolló un trabajo de campo durante un año en el Hospital St. Elizabeth de Washington. "Creía entonces y sigo creyendo, que cualquier grupo de personas forma una vida propia que, mirada de cerca, se hace razonable y normal; y que un buen modo de aprender algo sobre cualquiera de esos mundos consiste en someterse personalmente, en compañía de sus miembros, a la rutina diaria de las menudas contingencias a la que ellos mismos están sujetos."