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Sociological meaning of institutional life

English translation: institutional v. private or individualized

GLOSSARY ENTRY (DERIVED FROM QUESTION BELOW)
English term or phrase:Sociological meaning of institutional life
Selected answer:institutional v. private or individualized
Entered by: Peter Simon

05:13 Feb 21, 2015
English language (monolingual) [PRO]
Social Sciences - Social Science, Sociology, Ethics, etc. / Mass communication, crit
English term or phrase: Sociological meaning of institutional life
I can not understand institutional life in below sentences

A typical page conveys a level of intimacy via pictures and personal life which can’t be achieved in institutional life, such as where you work or where you study.

Another example:

Elizabeth Bott (1971) clearly demonstrated the transition to a later modern mode of integration in which the reconstruction of the material habitat contributed to the increased segregation of the institutional settings of everyday life (Sharp, 1993: 236)

Source: Communication Theory; Media, Technology and Society belonging to David Holme
mediaacademic
Türkiye
institutional v. private or individualized
Explanation:
I think the 2 examples convey somewhat different meanings. In the first, it simply refers to the private sphere of life ("where your work or where you study" as opposed to where you sleep or cuddle your loved ones, though the sentence, to me, is a bit muddled: 'via pictures and personal life' is unclear; possibly it meant 'items of pers. life', then 'which' refers to the level of intim.; also, certain types of 'work', esp. together with 'study' could imply that it's part of private, rather than institutional life, like how an artist feels about his work makes you think that his work is rather private, not institutional; but this blurs the meaning of the sentence, not of the phrase). See http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/institutional

The second phrase is not about 'institutional life', but 'institutional settings of everyday life'. Here, another meaning of 'institutional' comes to mind, i.e. "characterized by the blandness, drabness, uniformity, and lack of individualized attention" (meaning 4. here: http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/institutional?s=t). So here 'institutional' means those parts of the setting of one's private life that are already made uniform, thus drab, as opposed to pieces earlier made with a lot of private attention to the intended user.
Selected response from:

Peter Simon
Netherlands
Local time: 00:11
Grading comment
Selected automatically based on peer agreement.
4 KudoZ points were awarded for this answer



SUMMARY OF ALL EXPLANATIONS PROVIDED
4 +3institutional v. private or individualized
Peter Simon


  

Answers


3 hrs   confidence: Answerer confidence 4/5Answerer confidence 4/5 peer agreement (net): +3
sociological meaning of institutional life
institutional v. private or individualized


Explanation:
I think the 2 examples convey somewhat different meanings. In the first, it simply refers to the private sphere of life ("where your work or where you study" as opposed to where you sleep or cuddle your loved ones, though the sentence, to me, is a bit muddled: 'via pictures and personal life' is unclear; possibly it meant 'items of pers. life', then 'which' refers to the level of intim.; also, certain types of 'work', esp. together with 'study' could imply that it's part of private, rather than institutional life, like how an artist feels about his work makes you think that his work is rather private, not institutional; but this blurs the meaning of the sentence, not of the phrase). See http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/institutional

The second phrase is not about 'institutional life', but 'institutional settings of everyday life'. Here, another meaning of 'institutional' comes to mind, i.e. "characterized by the blandness, drabness, uniformity, and lack of individualized attention" (meaning 4. here: http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/institutional?s=t). So here 'institutional' means those parts of the setting of one's private life that are already made uniform, thus drab, as opposed to pieces earlier made with a lot of private attention to the intended user.


    Reference: http://www.mycobuild.com/Results.aspx
Peter Simon
Netherlands
Local time: 00:11
Native speaker of: Native in HungarianHungarian
PRO pts in category: 4
Grading comment
Selected automatically based on peer agreement.
Notes to answerer
Asker: I dont think ti can be explained any better. I am really grateful dear Simon.


Peer comments on this answer (and responses from the answerer)
agree  Alaa AHMED
43 mins
  -> Thanks!
agree  claude-andrew
1 hr
  -> Thanks!
neutral  Tina Vonhof (X): In your first explanation you turn things around. The source text says it very clearly: pictures and personal life (i.e., the private phere, at home, with family etc.) and institutional life (i.e., the public sphere, where you work, study, etc.).
8 hrs
  -> Tina, that's a formalist answer! But I began with 'institutional' in the answer because that was the question. That sentence was one of the illustrations, not the requested phrase, so less important, although you're right within that.
agree  Phong Le
5 days
  -> Thanks
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