ABSTRACT
In this chapter we mobilise the discourse matrix, developed in the previous chapter, to understand the changing nature of the classification of adult, male, long-term prisoners at the start of their sentence. Classification is not only of considerable importance for individual prisoners, for establishments and for the prison service as a whole, it is also of substantial theoretical interest. In their pioneering work Primitive Classification, Durkheim and Mauss (1963) argue that systems of classification cannot be derived from the innate characteristics of individuals but are completely social. Although this conclusion was derived from an analysis of what they called ‘primitive societies’, it is implicit in their study that it holds good for complex contemporary societies as well.
