ENGLISH

The Defences of the Weak: A Sociological Study of a Norwegian Correctional Institution

By Thomas Mathiesen

Book information

Publisher
Routledge
Year
2012
ISBN
1136284095, 9781136284090
Language
english
Format
EPUB
Filesize
734 kB (751308 bytes)
Series
Routledge Revivals
Pages
288\0
Time added
2023-04-10 12:33:40

Description

This is a sociological study of a Norwegian penal institution. The author spent two years in the institution, observing and interviewing inmates and staff, the target being to learn the extent to which American prisons fit with prison life in a different culture. He gives a fascinating answer to the question: Norwegian prisons were, at the time of the study, miles away from their American counterparts. The conflicts between prison officers and inmates were certainly there, but they took a very different form. Rather than engaging in deviant practices and norms, emphasising more or less solidary opposition against the staff, the Norwegian prisoners criticised the staff and the prison fiercely on the basis of their own norms; rather than engaging in deviance, they turned the common practises and norms of Norwegian society against the staff, engaging in a kind of moral surveillance of those in power. He coined the phrase of "censoriousness" to this approach from the "bottom" of the prison. Mathiesen spells out the major causes of this different approach, from characteristics of this particular prison to broader social forces.

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