RESISTANCE AMONG EX-PSYCHIATRIC PATIENTS - EXPRESSIVE AND INSTRUMENTAL RITUALS

Symbolic interaction has increasingly emphasized cultural domination a nd resistance, human agency, and the variety of ways power and inequal ity are reproduced. How subjects construct social meanings under oppre ssive conditions has become a major research focus. This study reconce ptualizes deviance in light of the above. Descriptive data were collec ted during two periods of research (1980-85; 1989-1991) on the posthos pital worlds of psychiatric patients by means of participant observati on, informal interviewing, and semiformal interviewing with 410 nonchr onic and chronic ex-psychiatric patients residing in Southern Ontario, Canada, and central counties of Michigan. Using the concepts of ritua l and a culture of resistance, we portray deviants constructing meanin g under structures of domination, renegotiating meaningful self-images , identities, and overall conceptions of self. Expressive and instrume ntal rituals that lead to a culture of resistance are examined.