The Twenty-Four Steps: An Analysis of Institutional Admission Procedures

Abstract

Goffman's thesis that admission to mental hospitals, prisons and other social establishments is essentially a process of role dispossession, involving incidents of a mortifying or punitive kind, is critically examined in the light of recent empirical work. Three hypothetical cases are broken down in detail, and it is argued that, while the actual events differ, there is a central unity of process.