The Sociology of the Prison

The course discusses isues of power, social deviance and social control/discipline, employing the prison institution as entry point into these key issues in the sociological tradition. The course gives an introduction to the tradition of prison studies and the key theories which have been developed to analyse the prison from a sociological point of view. Furthermore, the relationships between the prison as a total institution and the wider society is analysed, combining perspectives on social inequalities (in particular: theories of class, gender and ethnisity) and on the welfare state/citizenship (e.g. issues of drug abuse og the ideology of rehabilitation). The course combines theoretical work with students' own explorations of the subject matter, including but not restricted to exscursion to local prisons.

Knowledge - the student shall:
1) Have knowledge on the prison institution in a national and an international perspective.
2) Understand how the prisoninstitution stands in complex relations to larger society.
Skills - the student shall demonstrate the ability to:
1) Accomplish and present an independent analysis of an aspect of the prison institution.

The course combines a variety of learning activities (lectures, seminars, presentations, excursions and other).

If few students attend the course the two first weeeks of teaching, the course will be given as an individual study course with supervision. Please contact the departement for further information.

Form of assessment: Individual paper