CUSTOMER ORIENTATION, INSTITUTION, ORGANIZATION - SOCIOPSYCHOLOGICAL CRITIQUE OF A NEW IDEOLOGY IN RESIDENT HOMES AND NURSING-HOMES

The article is dealing with the concept of ''customer orientation'' on the ground of sociological and sociopsychological theories. This conc ept is currently very much a la mode in the field of hospitals, nurser y homes and resident homes for the aged - institutions of public healt h and welfare. By the conceptual differentiation of ''institution'' an d ''organisation'', ''status'' and ''role'' it is shown, that the soci al role play constellation ''seller/buyer'', ''salesman/customer'' is not matching with the role configuration of the institutional reality ''nurse/patient'', ''caretaker/resident'' and its mental representatio n. Demented patients cannot be customers, valid but very aged resident s require good care but not customers service. Socialpsychological ana lysis shows convincingly, that a superficial adaption of the ''custome r concept'' in the field of nursery homes is dysfuctional, creating co gnitive dissonances and serves to disguise the grave cuts into the qua litity of nursing and care at the costs of both, patients and personel l, cuts that are due to the pressure to minimate public spendings in t he context of the new law for nursery care and in the tendency of mone tarisation of the public social wellfare system.