The social identity of the chronic schizophrenic

Using ethnographic research methods in a sample of institutionalized male schizophrenics, an emic typology of patient social identities was derived. Interview and observational data yielded three general status classes comprising thirteen associated identities: killer, fighter, assaultive person, fag, rapist, doper, drunk, victim, con, nut, weirdo, snitch, and disoriented. An individual's social identity varied depending upon his current setting within the hospital (official, private, patient-staff interaction, or outside). This emic-derived typology is contrasted with the etic typologies which dominate the literature (e.g. Goffman, Salisbury and Henry), and the importance of ethnographic study in social psychiatry is highlighted.