Erving Goffman

June 11, 1922 - November 19, 1982), Canadian sociologist and writer. Goffman received his B.A. at the University of Toronto in 1945, his M.A., and his Ph.D. from the University of Chicago, in 1949 and 1953 respectively. Author of the seminal text Asylums, for which he gathered information at the National Institute of Mental Health in Washington, that describes "institutionalization" as a response by patients to the bureaucratic structures of a hospital setting. He also authored The Presentation of Self in Everyday Life, a study of social ritual and the personas we create for ourselves.

See also: American Association for the Abolition of Involuntary Mental Hospitalization, total institution