A total institution is defined by Goffman as a place of residence and work where a large number of like-situated, individuals, cut off from the wider society for an appreciable period of time, together lead an enclosed, formally administered round of life. Prisons serve as a clear example, providing we appreciate that what is prison-like about prisons is found in institutions whose members have broken no laws. This volume deals with total institutions in general and, mental hospitals, in particular. The main focus is, on the world of the inmate, not the world of the staff. A chief concern is to develop a sociological version of the structure of the self. Each of the essays in this book were intended to focus on the same issue--the inmate's situation in an institutional context. Each chapter approaches the central issue from a different vantage point, each introduction drawing upon a different source in sociology and having little direct relation to the other chapters. This method of presenting material may be irksome, but it allows the reader to pursue the main theme of each paper analytically and comparatively past the point that would be allowable in chapters of an integrated book. If sociological concepts are to be treated with affection, each must be traced back to where it best applies, followed from there wherever it seems to lead, and pressed to disclose the rest of its family.

高夫曼（Erving Goffman），當代美國社會學大師。1922年生於加拿大愛博他省（Alberta）的曼維爾市（Manville），1953年獲得芝加哥大學社會學博士學位。先後任教於加州大學柏克萊分校及賓州大學。1982年獲選為美國社會學會理事長。高夫曼曾是全球薪水最高的社會學教授，但一生不立學派、不願接受訪問，甚至連照片都極少。在量化分析大行其道、鉅型理論稱霸的年代，他的身影穿梭在小島、精神病院、賭場等地，一步步探索從沒人認為重要的「面對面互動」領域，讓這個新的視野誕生、開展，以致影響後世甚巨。著作包括《日常生活的自我呈現》（Presentation of Self in Everyday Life, 1959）、《精神病院》（Asylums, 1961）、《相遇》（Encounter, 1961）、《公共場所的行為》（Behavior in Public Places, 1963）、《污名》（Stigma, 1963）、《互動儀式》（Interaction Ritual, 1967）、《策略互動》（Strategic Interaction, 1969）、《公共場合的關係》（Relations in Public, 1971）、《框架分析》（Frame Analysis, 1974）、《性別廣告》（Gender Advertisements, 1976）、《談話的形式》（Forms of Talk, 1981）。