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Goffman on Mental Illness: Asylums and “The Insanity of Place” Revisited
Author(s) -
Shalin Dmitri N.
Publication year - 2014
Publication title -
symbolic interaction
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.874
H-Index - 47
eISSN - 1533-8665
pISSN - 0195-6086
DOI - 10.1002/symb.84
Subject(s) - insanity , argument (complex analysis) , mental illness , sociology , everyday life , strict constructionism , psychoanalysis , sociological imagination , social constructionism , psychology , social psychology , epistemology , social science , mental health , psychotherapist , psychiatry , philosophy , medicine
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 .