Sociology / Unit 4 Soc 0527 short lesson, about 20 seconds
Total Institutions
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The idea
A total institution, Goffman's term, is a setting where people are cut off from the wider society and every part of life is administered by one authority.
In practice
Prisons, boarding schools, monasteries, and military training run sleep, work, and leisure in one place.
Where people slip
The defining feature is the merging of life's separate spheres under one authority.
Your place on the trail
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