1.

Record Nr.

UNINA9910820289903321

Autore

Britton Dana M.

Titolo

At Work in the Iron Cage : The Prison as Gendered Organization / / Dana M. Britton

Pubbl/distr/stampa

New York, NY : , : New York University Press, , [2003]

©2003

ISBN

0-8147-2308-X

1-4175-8816-0

Edizione

[1st ed.]

Descrizione fisica

1 online resource (273 p.)

Disciplina

365/.023/73

Soggetti

Correctional personnel - Training of - United States

Correctional personnel - Officials and employees - United States

Prisons - United States

Criminal justice, Administration of - United States

Women correctional personnel - United States

Inmate guards - United States

Lingua di pubblicazione

Inglese

Formato

Materiale a stampa

Livello bibliografico

Monografia

Note generali

Description based upon print version of record.

Nota di contenuto

Front matter -- Contents -- Acknowledgments -- 1. Engendering the Prison -- 2. Penology in America Men’s and Women’s Prisons as Gendered Projects -- 3. From Turnkey to Officer -- 4. Paths to Prison -- 5. Work with Inmates -- 6. The Rest of the Job -- 7. Conclusion -- Methodological Appendix -- Notes -- References -- Index -- About the Author

Sommario/riassunto

When most people think of prisons, they imagine chaos, violence, and fundamentally, an atmosphere of overwhelming brute masculinity. But real prisons rarely fit the “Big House” stereotype of popular film and literature. One fifth of all correctional officers are women, and the rate at which women are imprisoned is growing faster than that of men. Yet, despite increasing numbers of women prisoners and officers, ideas about prison life and prison work are sill dominated by an exaggerated image of men’s prisons where inmates supposedly struggle for physical dominance. In a rare comparative analysis of men’s and women’s prisons, Dana Britton identifies the factors that influence the gendering



of the American workplace, a process that often leaves women in lower-paying jobs with less prestige and responsibility. In interviews with dozens of male and female officers in five prisons, Britton explains how gender shapes their day-to-day work experiences. Combining criminology, penology, and feminist theory, she offers a radical new argument for the persistence of gender inequality in prisons and other organizations. At Work in the Iron Cage demonstrates the importance of the prison as a site of gender relations as well as social control.