Prison and sociological perspective

Abstract

Is a qualitative sociological study of prisons useful? What a question! Doesn’t it seem pointless, out of place or provocative, or all three? Aren’t knowledge, the will to know, truth, objectivity and the scientific character of the work justifications in their own right, with their own positive value? Isn’t it legitimate for sociologists, and a fortiori, committed sociologists, to concentrate on deciphering the social forces and mechanisms at work in the reality of the prison world? An affir...