Flashcards
INSTITUTIONAL AGGRESSION
Cards in this deck (9)
- 1THEORY OUTLINE (AO1)Aggression in institutions is a significant problem with high assault rates particularly in prison. Two explanations are offered for this:
Irwin & Cressey proposed The Importation Model, claiming that prisoners brought their own social histories and traits with them when entering prisons which influences their adaptation to the prison environment. Prisoners are not seen as “blank slates” when entering the prison and anything they considered normal in the outside world, even if it is violence, will be “imported” into the prison environment. - 2part 2Many pre-existing factors of imprisoned individuals may affect the levels of aggression displayed in prison – such as age, alcohol-addiction, and race. Prisoners may be coming from subcultures within society who may see violence or aggression as something that is valued, respected and therefore being imported into the prison setting.
The Deprivation Model proposes that aggression by prisoners is the product of the stressful and oppressive conditions of the institution itself and the ‘deprivation’ they face within the setting. - 3part 3Sykes outlined 5 deprivations that may contribute, such as: Deprivation of Liberty (prisoners are not trusted to live in the free world and are morally rejected by the rest of the society), Deprivation of Autonomy (prisoners have no power or control in making their own choices), Deprivation of Goods and Services (prisoners are deprived of many of the goods/services most people have readily available), Deprivation of Heterosexual Relationships (female companionship is restricted, reducing the man’s self-worth), Deprivation of Security (prisoners feel fear for their own safety within prison due to other inmates who are perceived as aggressive).
- 4RESEARCH/EVALUATION (AO2/AO3)Harer & Steffensmeier collected data from 58 US prisons and found that black inmates had higher rates of violent behaviour yet lower rates of alcohol-related and drug-related misconduct than white inmates. These patterns actually match racial differences within US society and so support the importation model in suggesting such personality traits are imported into the prison settings.
- 5part 2However it could be argued that these “groups” may in turn be subjected to more segregation and abuse and thus respond with aggression in defence rather than instigate it within such institutional settings. This could be occurring in both society itself and within institutions explaining this correlation. Therefore we cannot be sure of cause and effect for certain due to this as other unknown variables may be contributing such as persecution from majority racial groups causing the aggression.
- 6part 3McCorkle et al found that overcrowding, lack of privacy and the lack of any meaningful activity all increased levels of peer violence, supporting the deprivation model. However, a study by Nijman et al found that increased personal space given to psychiatric patients in institutions did little to decrease levels of violent incidents among patients. Yet, it is possible though that psychiatric problems the patients suffered from could have been acting as confounding variables.
- 7part 4Irwin & Cressey reported that one-time offenders were perceived by other prisoners as “straights”. This highlights the fact that they reject other more aggressive prisoner subcultures, suggesting that aggression is imported by certain types of inmates.
Further support is shown by Kane and Janus et al who found that long periods of unemployment, lower levels of education and a more serious criminal record correlated positively with a greater likelihood of aggression while imprisoned. This suggests pre-existing factors within prisoners affects the levels of aggression displayed within the prison setting. - 8IDASome explanations see aggression as a product of innate personality traits that are imported into prisons and thus due to the role of nature. Other explanations see the environment of the prison setting as contributing to aggression, highlighting the role of nurture.
Studies into institutional aggression can be seen as having gender bias as they have almost exclusively focused on male prisoners who may actually have different profiles to female prisoners. For example, female prisoners are often seen as establishing strong bonds with other members of their social group (other prisoners). - 9IDA part 2Both models are also seen as deterministic as they ignore the role of free will people have and ability of conscious thought in managing their own behaviours. Both models assume aggression is made likely with personality factors or environmental factors pre-disposing individuals to violent behaviour, however, this is not always the case.
Much prison aggression has little explanation for it, making it difficult to conduct research and draw firm conclusions. Research by Light et al found that 25% of prison assaults had no apparent reason behind them. Therefore, due to methodological problems associated with measuring such institutional aggression; drawing scientific and measurable conclusions becomes difficult.
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- AS Level Psychology (Aggression) Flashcards on INSTITUTIONAL AGGRESSION, created by Talentless Academic on 11/03/2015.
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