AsylumsNew to Penguin Modern Classics, one of most influential social scientist of the twentieth century examines the meaning of the asylum, the 'total institution' Asylums presents four interlinked essays that explore life in the 'total institutions' the closed systems of prisons, boarding schools, nursing homes and, most importantly, mental institutions. Focusing on the relationship between an inmate and the institution that contains them, Goffman unpicks