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Total institutions are not dead,
they just smell funny.
Vito Flaker
Faculty for Social Work
University of Ljubljana
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Total institution is an
assemblage.
The deinstitutionalisation of the medieval monasteries,
courts and leprosaria gave birth to a new general totalinstitution (Great Closure),
social margin, indirect charity and caring professionswere invented.
The fall of the Bastille - yet another
deinstitutionalisation rebirth of of special institutions (prisons, lunatic asylums,
workhouses, borstals etc.),
efficient in discipline
providing a simulacrumstatus of the contractual individual. Discontinuity of the labels and destinies.
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Abstract machine
escapes history; it is an abstract machine (Deleuze, Guattari,1980),
appearing in different forms in different historic epochs anddifferent social environments.
re-enacting the blueprint, abstract scheme, assembling of themachine from various historical matters (power) and assemblingvarious expressions of human destinies.
an ideal type: no concrete institution has all the features of thetotal institution and none of its features is characteristic only forthe total institutions (Goffman,1961)
Although abstract it is very real, the total institution is a social fact(Castel, 1989).
aggiornamento of the total institution, its ability to rise likePhoenix from the ashes (Castel, 1976)
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Components
Enclosed space One explanation (illness) A lot of people in one place
Gap between the staff and inmates Guardian power[1] Processing of the people Central plan
[1] The staff take care of inmates, decide ontheir behalf.
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Atributes
Total life is contained in its totality, everything is taken care of byothers.
Anti-household there is no familiarity, even the housework isdelegated to the special services.
Homogeneous create a mass of uniformed individuals, marked byone dominant characteristic (e.g. mental illness, crime)
Artificial people are not there because of friendship, kinship,common interests, their relationships are artificial and unavoidable.
Non-verbal although ideology is an important part of the totalinstitution it is mainly regulated by non-verbal signs and rules (space,procedures, gazes, sitting orders, departments, medications, etc.).
Punitive life in a total institution is based on the reward andpunishment giving or taking privileges.
Intensealthough the inmates experienced it as a loss of time, theexperience is remembered as intense and important.
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Social functions
Containing the people not to wander
around.
Producing the deviant careers if you
have not been in the bin you are not a real
loony.
Creating of the professional powerif we
can not reach an agreement you can still
be sent to the bin.
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Deinstitutionalisation as a
machine, as a diagram:
Polemic
Programmatic
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Aim and target Attack, critique and
demolition
Programme, inventions
and innovation
Space and movement Closing, containment of
population
Opening, enabling
movements
Type of programmes Hard core of institutions
Community programmes foronly easy cases
Programmes for hard
cases
Relationship to total
institution
Complementarymutual
reinforcement
Alternativenegate total
institution
Relationship between the
users and professionals
Dependence and oppression
of users
Empowerment and inclusion
Social body Special body Connecting to other parts of
the social
Table: deinstitutionalising machine
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Aim and target Attack, critique anddemolition
Programme, inventionsand innovation
Function of staff Custodian, tutoring,
guarding, patronising role of
professionals
Role of an advocate
Other people Segregation Inclusion of different actors
Type of reasoning Deductive Inductive
Subjective Guilt Value of unique experience
Organisation of experience Individualism,
standardisation, isolation
New spaces of collective
freedom (camps, networks,
total communities).
Table: deinstitutionalising machine cont.
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Normalisation (social role
valorisation) Choices they can make
Relationships they form
Scope ofparticipation in decision making
Degree ofmixingwith other people
Possibilities forpersonal growth
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Real Choices
How much we control our lives? Can we make choices?
Labelled and devalued people are often seen as not being able to
make choices. The consequence is that they have little or no choice.So they have limited opportunities and experiences. Therefore,
little or no success when choosing. This leads to low self-esteem.
If the choices are enabled and the support in choosing and
understanding choice is given, a person is seen as competent andable to cooperate. He has opportunities for diverse experience.
Self-esteem grows with successful choices. Experience and
capabilities to choose should increase it and therefore also the
choices we make.
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Good Relationships
People need to be respected. Love, respect, regard for
intimacy and sexuality, sharing, closeness, friendship,
taking ones time when needed, empathy and
consideration are vitally important. It means that
people can rely on you, know you, because they are
your friends, lovers.
When relationships are not good, we notice distance,
coldness, disgust or disdain. Only partial role is beingoffered not the whole person. Pity and control
dominate; one is just a member of some group, not a
person.
Respect Friendship Love
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Participation
Participation is measure of power and
citizenship. It is way of implementing
rights. People can be treated as objects,but also consulted, represented. They can
manage services or even own them.
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Mixing
Integration is of vital importance. It enables people to learn new
skills, extend the experience and provide a role model.
There is internal segregation of the staff and inmates (segregated
facilities, segregated activities etc.) and there is externalsegregation or apartheid. Services can encourage or discourage
use of external, ordinary facilities (going to public libraries,
evening classes, places of culture or commerce, etc.)
Membership in reputable community organization, visiting valued
spaces, use of ordinary transport (cars, taxis, buses), and visits ofnot paid, valued people make a person more valued. Use of the
segregated facilities, residing in an asylum, being driven in an
official vehicle additionally stigmatises a person and makes him or
her devalued.
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Personal development
Services can make people feel welcome and important.
They can encourage them to develop or give off the
impression that this is futile. They can provide means
of intimacy or denude most of the aspects of life. Peoplecan be treated as individuals or they can be herded and
regimented.
People can be labelled negatively:
Sick, childish, dependent, thief, subnormal, stupid,
ugly, vile:
Or regarded positively
A lover, wise, citizen, student, talented, friend, worker,
tenant.
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