Inequality and Discipline in a Women's Prison

The case-study of a women's prison in Hungary explores the relationship between in-prison inequalities and the prison s strong emphasis on discipline. This project sets out to test Charles Tilly s hypotheses about organizations (re)producing durable inequalities; their tendency to take over categorical inequalities out of convenience, which helps them accomplish other organizational work (Tilly 1998). The analysis demonstrates that a robust inmate hierarchy is in place: members of the elite are the extended arm of prison administration, a group of women are stigmatized as bad girls and warehoused until the day of their release; and the great majority of women are made disciplined workers. This work introduces the sorting mechanisms - e.g. job placement; or placement to cell - and the categories the prison uses - e.g. reliability, presentability - to distribute women in the various subgroups. The analysis uncovers the often direct translation between these internal categories and external social inequalities related to ethnicity or sexual orientation.

Autorentext

Herta Toth is a feminist scholar from Hungary, with a particular interest in gender and organizations. She holds degrees in economics, gender studies, as well as sociology and social anthropology. She is one of the founders of Hungary's first hotline for victims of domestic violence in 1994.

Klappentext

The case-study of a women's prison in Hungary explores the relationship between in-prison inequalities and the prison s strong emphasis on discipline. This project sets out to test Charles Tilly s hypotheses about organizations (re)producing durable inequalities; their tendency to take over categorical inequalities out of convenience, which helps them accomplish other organizational work (Tilly 1998). The analysis demonstrates that a robust inmate hierarchy is in place: members of the elite are the extended arm of prison administration, a group of women are stigmatized as bad girls and warehoused until the day of their release; and the great majority of women are made disciplined workers. This work introduces the sorting mechanisms - e.g. job placement; or placement to cell - and the categories the prison uses - e.g. reliability, presentability - to distribute women in the various subgroups. The analysis uncovers the often direct translation between these internal categories and external social inequalities related to ethnicity or sexual orientation.