LOOKING INTO THE WORLD OF IMPRISONED YOUTHS

Abstract

Goffman's "total institution" is an ideal type that portrays an institution as one that controls and recreates the self. Using this concept in juvenile institutions, it is realised that there is a relationship between the residents and the institution. The self is not a passive subject that allows the institution to recreate and reshape it. It reacts upon the control and attempts to deny that control.

The juvenile institutions are not as total when compared to the 'total institution'. There are "cracks" (Goffman, 1961) in its institutional structure and control that allow the residents to express their selves. The residents, as a whole, form a world of their own in the institutions. It maintains its boundaries by establishing norms and informal social control so that the institutional control will not breakthrough it. They impinge upon the flaws of the institutional structure and attempt to deny that control.

The residents react upon the control through participating in illegal activities, which then reveal the flaws in the institutional control. There lies a two-way relationship between the institution and the residents' social world. While the institution increases its totality of control, the residents challenges it. The level of control exerted by the institutions is determined by their definitions of the individuals. Such can be seen from the differences between a female and male institutions.

In addition, the institutional control is reduced when the formal regime lacks the knowledge about its residents. By limiting the flow of knowledge to the formal regime, the residents could then reduce the control imposed upon them. Hence, there is a constant negotiation of control between the institution and the residents' social world.