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Characteristics of Total InstitutionsErving Goffman

CJ 365, Summer 2001

May 29, 2001

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Introduction

Institutions:– Buildings or plants in which activity of a particular

kind regularly goes on. – Every institution captures something of the time and

interest of its members and provides something of a world for them.

Total Institutions– They are different in that the total character is

symbolized by a barrier that is often built into the physical plan.

• Wire fences, high walls, cliffs

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Total Institutions

Totalistic features:– One of the central features of the total institution is

the breakdown of barriers between spheres of life (sleep, play & work)

• All aspects of life are conducted in the same place

• Each activity is carried out in the company of a large group

• Activities are tightly scheduled

• Daily tasks all come together to serve a larger goal of the institution.

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Total Institutions

Staff-Inmate Split– Two different social and cultural worlds develop– There is considerable social distance between the

two groups

Work– Whatever incentive is given for work – it will not have

the same significance it had on the outside.• Work payment structure of our society

The family

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Inmate World

Mortification processes– Presenting Culture

• What the inmate brings to the institution

• The goal of the total institution is NOT to provide a different culture but to develop a tension between the home world and the institutional world.

– Stripping Processes• Mortification of the self – ID#, uniform, channels of

communication shut off

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Authority System

Authority is of the echelon kind– ANY member of the staff has a certain right to

discipline

The authority of corrective sanctions is directed at a great multitude of items of conduct– Dress, manners, social intercourse

Misbehavior in one sphere of life are held against one’s standings in other spheres

Rules are abundant, novel, and closely enforced

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Privilege System

House Rules –– Formal set of proscriptions that lay out the main requirements

of inmate conduct.

Rewards and Privileges– These remunerative controls are held out in exchange for

obedience to staff.– Release binge fantasy

Punishments– Usually given out as a result of rule breaking– Usually more severe than would be given out in the outside

world.

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Privilege System

Punishments and privileges are themselves modes of organization peculiar to total institutions.– No cigarettes, weight room pass.

It is important to see that the question of release from the total institution is elaborated into the privilege system.– Increase in good time, sentence extensions

Punishments and privileges come to be geared into a residential work system– Immediately associated with this system is some standard

social processes important in the life of total institutions.

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Informal Privilege System

Institutional Lingo

Secondary Adjustments –– Techniques that do not directly challenge the rules

but allow inmates to gain some satisfaction. – Inmate code

Kitchen Strata– Largely informal stratification of inmates

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Adaptation Alignments

Situational Withdrawal– The inmate withdraws from prison society

Rebellious Line– The inmate intentionally challenges the institution

– Rebel morale

Colonization– The inmate takes the largest satisfaction possible from the

institution

– Breaks the tension between outside and inside self

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Adaptation Alignments

Conversion– The inmate tries to take on the role of the perfect inmate.

“square johns”

Playing it Cool– Most inmates take on these alignments at different times, but

do not go to the extreme. – Hybrid model

All of the alignments serve an important role in inmate coping– Immunize the self from the tension with the outside world

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Culture Themes

There is a strong feeling that time spent in an establishment is time wasted– Inmates feel that they are totally exiled from living

A peculiar and high level of self-concern is engendered. – The story

Removal activities– These activities draw the self out of the current

situation– Movies, weightlifting, social activities

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Consequences