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

Arrived when & how described. Thanks!

A must have for the young sociologist to understand how our society works as a group and how that trickles down to affect the behavior of the individual in the group. If you are a thinking person with sociological questions, this is part of the Cannon of social science.

This book can be challenging at times..You cant just read and put it down and expect to pick it back up again and know exactly what's going on. Goffman takes a very in depth look on the inmate situation focusing primarily on mental institutions. The personal stories of what these people go through and the things that Goffman witness while observing inmates really brings this book together. I think he focuses a lot on the development of the self when taken out of a familiar setting and placed into a new one. He talks about how to cope and what the staff does to help the inmates adapt to their new life. He can get wordy and redundant but all in all I think it is a rather good read. If you're in a social theory class or mental health student, I would recommend this book.

Enter the past and present of the darkest side of psychology. An aim to help and the negative side effects of an industry that thrives only on capitalism and ignoring those who need our help.

Great book for Sociology or Political Science read.

Excellent condition , The concepts are as true today as when the book was first written,a must for any student studying the social sciences.

great book and came in great condition

Goffman's book is read by sociologists and others - it is considered a classic study of psychiatric hospital patients.. Having said that, what he shows about the "social situation" of mental patients isn't very well developed. He did a sort of participant observation of hospitalized psychiatric patients. He developed ideas of the patients and their staff having a sort of community for themselves based on their interactions, roles and what is expressed in the relationships between and among each group. The relationships are more than just "patient and staff." There is negotiation between them, and cooperative actions which serve to subvert the system. On the other hand, Goffman contends that the patients become "institutionalized" in their behaviors and capabilities; they are dependent on being told when and what to eat, when to sleep, what to do during the day, etc. Supposedly, this over time limits their decision making capabilities. Oh! if only it were that simple. After years of studying psychiatric patients, I will tell you that these people are often very very ill, and need the structured environment to survive. Putting them out of the hospital into the community lends often to their homelessness or imprisonment. Sure, inpatient psychiatric care has needed improvement, but basically it exists to care for people who absolutely cannot care for themselves. Hoffman doesn't seem to know this important fact.

Excellent resource, a must have in my program for nursing

Having read a portion of his study on Total Institutions for an OU course (K101) I gave in to temptation to buy the whole book and although I haven't read it all yet, I am loving his research and the way he writes.

A classic text in sociology.

I read this first many years ago. It is one of those researches which should always be with us a, sadly it seems, total instituiotns will be with us. We need Goffmann's insights and his understanding.

Very good book for those that work in social care workers. Well written and highly recommended. Also good for students in higher institutions.