Institutional Aggression Flashcards
Institutional aggression is…
Violent behaviour that exists within, and may be a defining feature of certain institutions and groups
What is an institution?
An institution is an organisation or body of some sort (such as a uni, the police, a school OR A PRISON)
What are the explanations for institutional aggression?
Dispositional causes
Situational causes
What does the term dispositional causes mean?
Aggression is within the person
What are the two models for institutional aggression?
Importation model
Deprivation model
Who proposed the importation model?
Irwin and Cressey
What does the importation model state?
Inmates who enter prison with particular characteristic are more likely to engage in interpersonal violence than other inmates.
Violence is not a product of the institution itself but characteristics of the individual
Younger inmates more likely to have difficulties adjusting to prison life, more likely to have confrontations with other inmates and staff
Who is Adams?
Importation model (institutional aggression) ILLUSTRATED in the USA, black inmates are more likely to be involved in interpersonal violence compared to white inmates. Thought to be due to the fact black prisoners often entered prison from more disenfranchised environments where agg is more of a 'norm' than in mainstream society. Imported the aggression into prison
What does disenfranchised mean?
Black inmates more likely to be disenfranchised from society’s norms (where aggression is devalued). More likely to live in a ‘sub-culture’ that values aggressive behaviour. Aggression more likely to be rewarded and respected.
Example of a pre existing characteristic that may contribute to agg
Alcohol dependence (mills, kroner and weekes) surveyed 202 admitted inmates in a Canadian prison. Higher levels of ‘serious institutional misconduct’ associated with severe alcohol dependence
What does the deprivation model state?
Characteristics of the prison itself rather than the prison population that accounts for prison violence
Who are Harer and Steffensmeier?
They believe inmate behaviour is a response to the problems of adjustment posed by the pains of imprisonment or deprivations
What is the lucifer effect?
A prison may create the lucifer effect, May cultivate aggression due to a change in power and status in the institution.
E.g. Person may hold high social ranking in society but in the prison are at the mercy of the prison guards. Creates tension and leads into agg
Research into the importation model
Kane and Janus
Mills, Kroner and Weekes
Research into deprivation model
Zimbardo (1973)
Johnston
