1st Edition

Engendering Resistance: Agency and Power in Women's Prisons

By Mary Bosworth Copyright 1999
210 Pages
by Routledge

216 Pages
by Routledge

216 Pages
by Routledge

This book explores how power is negotiated in women’s prisons. Drawing on fieldwork conducted in three penal establishments in England, it analyses how women manage the restrictions of imprisonment and the manner in which they attempt to resist institutional control. It is proposed that power is negotiated on a private, individual level, as women often resist the institution simply by trying to... Read more
Contents: Introduction; Agency and power in women’s prisons: an overview; Reading the prison: a review of the literature; Re-evaluating difference: the gender of justice, care and power; Towards legitimate research methods, or working by, on, for and with women; Gender, identity and the prison: punishing their bodies, punishing their selves; Voices of agency, voices of resistance: negotiating power relations in prison; Conclusion: women’s imprisonment: conclusions and new directions; Appendix; References; Index.

Biography

Mary Bosworth, Department of Sociology and Anthropology, Fordham University, New York, USA

’Original and packed with indispensable insights...it deserves to become a classic of prison sociology and feminist scholarship.’ Howard Journal of Criminal Justice ’...Bosworth makes a significant contribution to the literature on sociological studies of prison...a well-written, up-to-date, informative and well-documented book that offers an alternative to our current understanding of the operation and structure of women’s institutions and of female inmates.’ Corrections Compendium ’...a unique account ...’ Sociological Abstracts ’...impressive, incisive, detailed...offers readers numerous useful insights.’ British Journal of Criminology ’...well written, theoretically informed, and empirically grounded.’ International Criminal Justice Review