• Publisher: *cf.
• 269 pages
• Author: Vito Flaker
• Original title: Odpiranje norosti: vzpon in padec totalnih ustanov

By summarising and synthesising the theoretical concepts of Goffman, Foucault and Castel, the book tackles total institutions, their operation and role in contemporary society. The author substantiates his discussion with experiences from his own practice and work in and against total institutions. In critically drawing on the prominent researchers of total institutions and reflecting on his own experiences, he draws on two crucial points: deinstitutionalisation and the everyday life of individuals in total institutions. The work traces the history of the creation and the development of total institutions (from the perspective of the people confined in them) and the professions that are a necessary part of their regimes of confinement. The book is not only a critical discussion of institutions but also an attempt to think their disintegration and provide an overview of the practices of deinstitutionalising mental health care. The author thus aims not only at the understanding of total institutions but also and especially at their elimination.

About the author

Vito Flaker

Vito Flaker (1955) is a Professor at the Faculty of Social Work, University of Ljubljana. His fields of work include social work, community mental health, drugs and addiction, long-term care, deinstitutionalisation, social work methods, action research, social innovations and qualitative methods, involving users and empowerment.