ABSTRACT
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.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
part |50 pages
Part I Introduction
chapter |16 pages
Chapter 1 The Problem
chapter |10 pages
Chapter 2 Some Definitions and Propositions 1
part |160 pages
Part II The Rise and Functions of Censoriousness
chapter |16 pages
Chapter 4 The Staff Context
chapter |14 pages
Chapter 5 Staff Distribution as Seen by Inmates
chapter |39 pages
Chapter 6 Elements of a Patriarchal Régime
chapter |28 pages
Chapter 7 The Disrupted Society
chapter |16 pages
Chapter 8 Censoriousness: Models of Justice
chapter |13 pages
Chapter 9 Censoriousness: Models of Efficiency
chapter |15 pages
Chapter 10 Censoriousness: A Concluding Statement
chapter |17 pages
Chapter 11 Problems of Defensive Effectiveness
part |20 pages
Part III Some Conclusions