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Contingent Control and Wild Moments: Conducting Psychiatric Evaluations in the Home

Author

Listed:
  • Robert M. Emerson

    (Department of Sociology, University of California – Los Angeles, USA)

  • Melvin Pollner

    (Department of Sociology, University of California – Los Angeles, USA)

Abstract

When social control and social service workers go into the field, into the “native habitat” of some problem, a variety of tacit structures and controls that mark office work with its standardized documents and formal meetings are weakened or absent entirely. As a result, compared to office settings, social control work in field settings tends to become open, contingent, unpredictable, and on occasion even wild. This article provides a strategic case study of the distinctive features of social control decision-making in the field, drawing on observations of field work by psychiatric emergency teams (PET) from the 1970s. PET typically went to the homes of psychiatrically-troubled persons in order to conduct evaluations for involuntary mental hospitalization. This article will analyze the varied, situationally-sensitive practices these workers adopted to evaluate such patients in their own homes.

Suggested Citation

  • Robert M. Emerson & Melvin Pollner, 2019. "Contingent Control and Wild Moments: Conducting Psychiatric Evaluations in the Home," Social Inclusion, Cogitatio Press, vol. 7(1), pages 259-268.
    • Handle: RePEc:cog:socinc:v:7:y:2019:i:1:p:259-268
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    Cited by:

    1. Malin Åkerström & Katarina Jacobsson, 2019. ""Producing People" in Documents and Meetings in Human Service Organizations," Social Inclusion, Cogitatio Press, vol. 7(1), pages 180-184.

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