Reinventive Institutions

Abstract

This chapter considers how social and political changes since Goffman’s time have impacted upon the structure and function of total institutions, and the motivations and perceptions of their members. Not only has the physical context shifted, from isolated enclosures to community-based ‘institutions without walls’, but also the symbolic meaning of resocialisation has changed, from one of coercive mortification to voluntary self-improvement. The model of the ‘Re-inventive Institution’ (RIs) that I introduce here can be seen as both re-invented in its design and re-inventing in its effects. However, this does not necessarily imply the liberation of the agentic inmate, for a subtler form of power operates through the circulation of discourses and routinised practices that keep members equally committed to an institutional world. This process, which I call ‘performative regulation’ is more than just disciplinary power imposed on docile bodies (Foucault 1975; Rose 1990), for it demands the active involvement of individuals in the creation of their own regimes and adherence to them, as well as the mutual surveillance of members by their peers. Yet it is also more than a democratic interaction order (Goffman 1983) or negotiated order (Strauss 1978), for hierarchical relations affect the way that institutional rules are designed and implemented.