Foundational Concepts
Total Institution
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A facility of work and residence in which a large 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 under one central authority. The sociologist Erving Goffman coined the term in a 1957 paper, expanded in his 1961 collection Asylums, and classed prisons, mental hospitals, military barracks and monasteries together as institutions sharing this same structure regardless of their differing purposes.
Facts
DomainPenology and corrections 1 Cross-Tradition Connections
Associated With
A penitentiary built on strict solitary confinement is a classic example of a total institution's enclosed, single-authority regime.
Sources
1. Wikipedia: Total Institution
Lead sectionQuote, Lead section
All aspects of life including sleep, play, and work, are conducted in the same place, under the same absolute authority.
1. Wikipedia: Total Institution
Associated With: Eastern State Penitentiary, Examples sectionQuote, Associated With: Eastern State Penitentiary, Examples section
A facility of work and residence in which a 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.
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