Anthropology Minor Goffman

In how far can an aged car facility or boarding school be described as a total institution? Use Goffman’s ideas to discuss the question.

Based on the theories and ideas of Erving Goffman, an aged care facility is often considered to come under the criteria of a ‘total institution’, a term first coined by Goffman himself in his book Asylums (1961). This essay will look at the theories Goffman generated relating to this idea of a ‘total institution’, the basic principles of an aged care facility, and how Goffman’s ideas apply to aged care facilities. It will also look at how, in recent times, there has been a shift from traditional aged care facilities that follow the structures of a ‘total institution’ to a more community-oriented style of facilitation.

The term ‘total institution’ refers to a building or facility whereby social intercourse is strictly limited by means of physical boundaries. Goffman devised this term in 1961 to explain the phenomena he encountered during his studies in various asylums. Following on from this, he categorized various types of these total institutions in to five rough groupings. These are as follows:

1. “...institutions established to care for persons felt to be both incapable and harmless;” (Goffman, 1962:4)

(eg. Orphanages, aged care facilities, homes for the blind)

2. “...places established to care for persons felt to be both incapable of looking after themselves and a threat to the community, albeit an unintended one...” (ibid.)

(eg. Mental institutions)

3. “...to protect the community against what are felt to be intentional dangers to it, with the welfare of the persons thus sequestered not the immediate issue...” (ibid.)

(eg. Prisons, prisoner-of-war camps, concentration camps)

4. “...established to better pursue some worklike task and justifying themselves only on these instrumental grounds...” (ibid.)

(eg. Boarding schools, mining/logging camps, ships, army barracks)

5. “...establishments designed as retreats from the world even while often serving also as training stations for the religious...” (ibid.)

(eg. Monasteries, convents)

Essentially, the main function or purpose of a total institution, is to cater for an inmate’s human functions, but is carried out on a large scale, over a very long period of time. The three spheres of life; work, sleep and play, are intertwined and the barriers between them are broken down within the institution. This means that within the institution is where an inmate must work, sleep and play, and thus there is no real disparity between the three spheres, or rather it becomes