Ideology, Social Change, and Violence in a Mental Hospital

An investigation of what seemed like a simple incident, a fight between patients and attendants on the disturbed ward of a medium-sized federal mental hospital, revealed how change in the hospital philosophy had differentially affected social groups in that institution. Low status attendants felt di...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of Health and Human Behavior 1963-01, Vol.4 (4), p.258-266
Main Authors: Marks, John, Mees, Hayden L., Simmel, Edward
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Blame
Conservatism
Educational innovation
Hospital units
Human behavior
Mental hospital/Mental hospitals
Nurses
Permissiveness
Psychiatric hospitals
Social change
Violence
Violence/Violent
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Summary:An investigation of what seemed like a simple incident, a fight between patients and attendants on the disturbed ward of a medium-sized federal mental hospital, revealed how change in the hospital philosophy had differentially affected social groups in that institution. Low status attendants felt disarmed by the change and resisted it, while high status professional people promoted it. A breakdown in communications resulted, and this breakdown seems related to the disorder which followed. Some suggestions are offered of ways in which communications can be maintained in the midst of social change.
ISSN:0095-9006
0022-1465
DOI:10.2307/2948832