Goffman on Mental Illness: Asylums and ‘‘The Insanity of Place’’ Revisited

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

2013

Publication Title

Symbolic Interaction

Volume

37

Issue

1

First page number:

122

Last page number:

144

Abstract

This case study is designed to demonstrate that sociological imagination can feed on personal experience, that research practice interpolates our biographical circumstances, and that a systematic inquiry into the interplay between our professional and everyday life offers a fruitful avenue for sociological analysis. The discussion focuses on Erving Goffman’s treatment of mental illness. The argument is made that the evolution of Goffman’s constructionist views on mental disorder had been influenced by his family situation and personal experience.

Keywords

Asylums; Biocritical hermeneutics; Biography; Case studies; Erving Goffman; Goffman; Erving; Hermeneutics; Insanity of place; Mental illness; Sociology

Disciplines

Mental and Social Health | Psychiatric and Mental Health | Sociology

Language

English

Permissions

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