What are You Looking at?: Prisoner Confrontations and the Search for Respect

This article examines the occurrence of fights, assaults, arguments and threats of violence between adult male prisoners in an English category C prison. The self-narratives of 40 men are analysed to investigate whether some prisoners engage in more confrontations than others due to a psychological need to protect their identity. The findings indicate that how an individual understands and constructs their self-narrative can influence their involvement in aggressive behaviour. Implications for interventions attempting to reduce aggression are explored.