Reentering Society - An anthropological study of a reentry center, in the United States, for incarcerated people working towards their release
(2017) SANM03 20171Social Anthropology
- Abstract
- The United States has the highest incarceration rate in the world. The phenomenon of mass incarceration largely confines minorities and people living in poverty. More than 600,000 prisoners are released yearly to face barriers of reentering society. Struggles of finding employment, housing, and being denied social services, due to their criminal record, generate a system where former inmates become second-class citizens. Participant observation was conducted at a reentry center in the Washington, D.C. area to shed light on the process of assisting prisoners with reintegrating into society. Through the lens of governmentality, tactics and procedures are carried out with the intention of minimizing risky behavior and creating an acceptable,... (More)
- The United States has the highest incarceration rate in the world. The phenomenon of mass incarceration largely confines minorities and people living in poverty. More than 600,000 prisoners are released yearly to face barriers of reentering society. Struggles of finding employment, housing, and being denied social services, due to their criminal record, generate a system where former inmates become second-class citizens. Participant observation was conducted at a reentry center in the Washington, D.C. area to shed light on the process of assisting prisoners with reintegrating into society. Through the lens of governmentality, tactics and procedures are carried out with the intention of minimizing risky behavior and creating an acceptable, law-abiding citizen. Operating within an arena that is hindered by a criminal record, the staff members play on the strings of individual agency, self-governing, and determination for inmates to restore a livelihood and achieve social and economic mobility. However, structural violence is a key feature that explains the ways in which structures in society constrain former prisoners and place them in compromised positions that foster continued social inequality and recidivism. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
http://lup.lub.lu.se/student-papers/record/8925023
- author
- Merrild, Mette Carina LU
- supervisor
-
- Nina Gren LU
- organization
- course
- SANM03 20171
- year
- 2017
- type
- H2 - Master's Degree (Two Years)
- subject
- keywords
- structural violence, governmentality, prisoners, reentry, social anthropology
- language
- English
- id
- 8925023
- date added to LUP
- 2017-09-09 14:36:04
- date last changed
- 2017-09-12 14:00:47
@misc{8925023, abstract = {{The United States has the highest incarceration rate in the world. The phenomenon of mass incarceration largely confines minorities and people living in poverty. More than 600,000 prisoners are released yearly to face barriers of reentering society. Struggles of finding employment, housing, and being denied social services, due to their criminal record, generate a system where former inmates become second-class citizens. Participant observation was conducted at a reentry center in the Washington, D.C. area to shed light on the process of assisting prisoners with reintegrating into society. Through the lens of governmentality, tactics and procedures are carried out with the intention of minimizing risky behavior and creating an acceptable, law-abiding citizen. Operating within an arena that is hindered by a criminal record, the staff members play on the strings of individual agency, self-governing, and determination for inmates to restore a livelihood and achieve social and economic mobility. However, structural violence is a key feature that explains the ways in which structures in society constrain former prisoners and place them in compromised positions that foster continued social inequality and recidivism.}}, author = {{Merrild, Mette Carina}}, language = {{eng}}, note = {{Student Paper}}, title = {{Reentering Society - An anthropological study of a reentry center, in the United States, for incarcerated people working towards their release}}, year = {{2017}}, }