On Asylums: Essays on the social stituation of mental patients and other inmates, by Irving Goffmann.

Goffman, a Canadian sociologist born to Ukrainian immigrants, studied chemistry at the University of Manitoba before moving to the University of Chicago to continue in sociology. He became an expert on human interaction and is considered one of the most influential sociologists of the 20th century. The micro-interactions between patients and staff were a focal point of the book, which illuminated in a unique and perceptive way the social context created by St Elizabeth’s, a 7000-bed psychiatric hospital in Washington DC, and its effects on patient experience and behaviour. The emphasis was on the patient’s social world whereas all previous research on mental hospitals emphasised the perspectives of psychiatrists.