Table of Contents
Definition of Total Institution
(noun) An organization where people are placed under formal control and complete resocialization occurs.
Examples of Total Institution
Etymology of Total Institution
- Erving Goffman (1922–1982) popularized the term in Asylums: Essays on the Social Situation of Mental Patients and Other Inmates (1961).
Total Institution Pronunciation
Syllabification: to·tal in·sti·tu·tion
Audio Pronunciation
Phonetic Spelling
- American English – /tOHt-l in-stuh-tOO-shuhn/
- British English – /tOHtl in-sti-tyOO-shuhn/
International Phonetic Alphabet
- American English – /ˈtoʊtəl ˌɪnstɪˈtuʃən/
- British English – /ˈtəʊtl ˌɪnstɪˈtjuːʃən/
Usage Notes
- Plural: total institutions
- Involuntary resocialization often occurs in total institutions.
Additional Information
- Word origin of “total” and “institution” – Online Etymology Dictionary: etymonline.com
- Goffman, Erving. 1961. Asylums: Essays on the Social Situation of Mental Patients and Other Inmates. Garden City, NY: Anchor Books.
Related Terms
- authority
- bureaucracy
- clear division of labor
- explicit rules
- formal organization
- impersonality
- organization
- power
- resocialization
- Weber, Max
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Cite the Definition of Total Institution
ASA – American Sociological Association (5th edition)
Bell, Kenton, ed. 2013. “total institution.” In Open Education Sociology Dictionary. Retrieved April 19, 2024 (https://sociologydictionary.org/total-institution/).
APA – American Psychological Association (6th edition)
total institution. (2013). In K. Bell (Ed.), Open education sociology dictionary. Retrieved from https://sociologydictionary.org/total-institution/
Chicago/Turabian: Author-Date – Chicago Manual of Style (16th edition)
Bell, Kenton, ed. 2013. “total institution.” In Open Education Sociology Dictionary. Accessed April 19, 2024. https://sociologydictionary.org/total-institution/.
MLA – Modern Language Association (7th edition)
“total institution.” Open Education Sociology Dictionary. Ed. Kenton Bell. 2013. Web. 19 Apr. 2024. <https://sociologydictionary.org/total-institution/>.