Differential perception of institutional constraints in a residential school

This article explores the usefulness of a social-psychological approach for analyzing how restrictions are perceived in a particular type of total institution devoted to the socialization of adolescents. Using a cognitive perspective, it suggests that totality is not experienced as a monolithic phenomenon: The same residential school is experienced differently by students from different socio-cultural settings. Students from different backgrounds are aware of, disturbed by, and legitimize the institutional restrictions, both positional and personal, in different ways. The findings suggest that a cognitive approach can lead to a new and more fruitful conception of total institutions.