Institutionalization: A Theory of Human Behavior and the Social Environment

Abstract

Institutionalism is the syndrome first recognized and described in inpatient psychiatric facilities,which is now used to describe a set of maladaptive behaviors that are evoked by the pressures of living in any institutional setting. This article traces the development of the theory of institutionalization, which predicts and explains an individual’s response to that particular type of environment. The article makes note of key contributors and contributions, and of empirical studies that have advanced the theory. Underlying perspectives and assumptions are identified and earlier theoretical models are reviewed and critiqued. An updated model of the theory, which includes individual vulnerabilities, objective conditions of the institutional placement, and the resident’s perceptions of the environment, is presented. New directions in the field of institutional care and implications for social workers, particularly for those working in nursing home and prison settings, are discussed, along with recommendations for next steps for theory progression.

Effects of Institutionalization and Parental Living Status on Children’s Self-Esteem, and Externalizing and Internalizing Problems in Rwanda

“…It might be the case that children were already different before they entered an institution or family. A review of empirical studies on institutionalization revealed a number of variables that may explain the poorer adjustment among institutionalized children (46), such as impaired physical health or developmental delay that might be caused or augmented by the pre-institutionalization rearing situation. Severe social and mental health problems or alcohol and drug abuse of parent(s) more likely leads to child abandonment or neglect and finally to a separation of the child from his or her parents.…”

“…The genocide against the Tutsi, severe poverty, and HIV/AIDS have had devastating consequences for the functioning of families and the larger community. They have damaged the social networks that once facilitated healthy child rearing (46, 47). Given this background, the current study sheds light on the effects of institutionalization and losing parents on the psychological adjustment of children in a poor and traumatized social environment.…”

Re-imagining institutional spaces: the communitizing potential of leisure

“…The trend of placing citizens in long-term care facilities and prisons is likely to rise as long as people are living longer and society is fixated on its use of incarceration as a solution to socio-economic problems (Davis, 2003;McNown Johnson & Rhodes, 2007). As total institutions (Goffman, 1961), these establishments continue to maintain a system whereby groups of people are bureaucratically processed, whilst being physically isolated from wider society by being required to sleep, work and play within the confines of the same institution.…”

“…The culture of total institutions is one in which individuals lose incentive to take responsibility for their basic needs because they are relieved of the need to think for themselves (Martin, 1955;McNown Johnson & Rhodes, 2007). This process of "disculturation" can cause people to be incapable of functioning in the world beyond the institution (Goffman, 1961).…”

“…Human beings wither in institutions" (p. 282). Total institutions are characterized by all-encompassing loss on the part of the inmate: loss of contact with the outside world; loss of friends, possessions and personal events; and loss of prospects outside the institutions (Goffman, 1961;McNown Johnson & Rhodes, 2007). For example, incarceration often results in women losing contact with their families and communities, producing many challenges upon release in terms of being accepted in the community they are entering or re-entering (Maidment, 2006;Pollack, 2008).…”