{"title":"Prison officers and esprit de corps. Ingroup and outgroup relationships in prison","authors":"Alessandro Maculan, M. Rodelli","doi":"10.1177/14624745221129258","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"This paper presents a qualitative study exploring the concept of esprit de corps in prison officers (POs), through the interpretative lens of Social Identity Theory. The study relies on semi-structured interviews conducted with 26 POs working in Italian correctional facilities. Thematic analyses on the resulting data enabled us to identify POs’ esprit de corps as a complex and multidimensional construct that influences both their social identification with their professional group and their interpersonal relationships with members of their ingroup and outgroup. Findings from this study suggest that POs’ esprit de corps is a fundamental component of day-to-day prison life, taking effect on the symbolic and relational levels, fostering loyalty and cohesion among ingroup members, and contrast with members of the outgroup. We conclude that examining esprit de corps as a construct can give an important contribution to our criminological and sociological knowledge.","PeriodicalId":47626,"journal":{"name":"Punishment & Society-International Journal of Penology","volume":"25 1","pages":"1023 - 1041"},"PeriodicalIF":2.3000,"publicationDate":"2022-10-05","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Punishment & Society-International Journal of Penology","FirstCategoryId":"90","ListUrlMain":"https://doi.org/10.1177/14624745221129258","RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"Q1","JCRName":"CRIMINOLOGY & PENOLOGY","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0
Abstract
This paper presents a qualitative study exploring the concept of esprit de corps in prison officers (POs), through the interpretative lens of Social Identity Theory. The study relies on semi-structured interviews conducted with 26 POs working in Italian correctional facilities. Thematic analyses on the resulting data enabled us to identify POs’ esprit de corps as a complex and multidimensional construct that influences both their social identification with their professional group and their interpersonal relationships with members of their ingroup and outgroup. Findings from this study suggest that POs’ esprit de corps is a fundamental component of day-to-day prison life, taking effect on the symbolic and relational levels, fostering loyalty and cohesion among ingroup members, and contrast with members of the outgroup. We conclude that examining esprit de corps as a construct can give an important contribution to our criminological and sociological knowledge.
期刊介绍:
Punishment & Society is an international, interdisciplinary, peer reviewed journal that publishes the highest quality original research and scholarship dealing with punishment, penal institutions and penal control.