Institutional Interaction focuses on talk and interaction in institutional contexts. The first systematic book-length study on this expanding area, it discusses the theory and methodology of conversation analysis, focusing on studies of institutional interaction, before examining the basics of institutional interaction in selected fields. Cutting-edge new applications are assessed, such as human-computer interaction, the role of ethnography, statistics and the relationship of institutional talk to ordinary talk. Accessibly written and carefully structured to provide a sophisticated introduction to conversation analysis applied in institutional settings, the book offers a wealth of examples ranging from the classroom, to the courtroom, to the doctor's surgery. The book also features helpful suggestions for further reading, designed to appeal to students and academics in socio-linguistics, social psychology, organizational studies, management and information systems and applied linguistics.

This comprehensive collection provides a fascinating summary of the debates on the growth of institutional care during the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. Revising and revisiting Foucault, it looks at the significance of ethnicity, race and gender as well as the impact of political and cultural factors, throughout Britain and in a colonial context. It questions historically what it means to be mad and how, if at all, to care.

In our society, medication is often seen as the treatment for severe mental illness, with psychotherapy a secondary treatment. However, quality social interaction may be as important for the recovery of those with severe mental illness as are treatments. This volume makes this point while describing the emotionally moving lives of eight individuals with severe mental illness as they exist in the U.S. mental health system. Offering social and psychological insight into their experiences, these stories demonstrate how patients can create meaningful lives in the face of great difficulties. Based on in-depth interviews with clients with severe mental illness, this volume explores which structures of interaction encourage growth for people with severe mental illness, and which trigger psychological damage. It considers the clients’ relationships with friends, family, peers, spouses, lovers, co-workers, mental health professionals, institutions, the community, and the society as a whole. It focuses specifically on how structures of social interaction can promote or harm psychological growth, and how interaction dynamics affect the psychological well-being of individuals with severe mental illness.

Erving Goffman is considered by many to have been one of the most important sociologists of the post-war era. His close observation of everyday life and his concern with the ways in which people play roles and manage the impressions they present to each other led to his pioneering creation of a new dramaturgical perspective for sociology. His later analysis explored the field of deviance and many of his works in this area are now considered as sociological classics, including Asylums, The Presentation of the Self in Everyday Life and Stigma. This collection brings together many of today's leading sociologists to pursue and build upon the diverse aspects of Goffman's legacy. The contributors present chapters on key topics of Goffman's work. Issues covered include: * mental illness and institutionalism * the incorporation of literary intertexts in Goffman's writings * Goffman's relationship to ethnomethodology * the singularity of Goffman's ethnography Ranging from his critique of institutionalization to his understanding of the minute details of face-to-face interaction, this collection reveals the richness of Goffman's own work as well as his contribution to sociology today and will be essential reading for students and academics alike.

Few sociologists have commanded a larger readership than Erving Goffman. From his first book, The Presentation of Self In Everyday Life (1956), to his last, Forms of Talk (1981), his publications were eagerly awaited and his ideas widely discussed. In 1982 when he died at the age of 60, the response was that a figure of outstanding importance had left the stage of modern sociology. In this powerful study, Tom Burns provides a meticulous and incomparable examination of Erving Goffman's work. Burn's arranges Goffman's writings into a series of themes such as 'Social Order', 'Acting Out', normalisation', 'abnormalisation', 'grading and discrimination' and 'realms of being'. This is a useful device because it brings out the richness and diversity of Goffman's preoccupations. This richness and diversity is often lost in secondary accounts which insist on labelling Goffman as a 'micro-sociologist' or 'symbolic interactionist'. In a painstaking and accurate discussion Burns shows the meaning and application of Goffman's key concepts. He also guides the reader in the direct influences upon Goffman's thought. He shows more clearly than anyone else how Goffman was influenced by Durkheim, Simmel, the Chicago School, animal ethology and linguistic philosophy. The book ends with a crisp and incisive critical assessment of Goffman's sociology.