Institutional Aggression

Irwin & Cressey - prisoners bring their own social histories and traits into prison with them 

- prisoners aren't 'blank slates' when they enter prison

- they import normative systems developed on the outside into prison with them 

Evaluation 

Harer & Steffenmeiser - data from 58 US prisons 

- black inmates were a lot more likely to be involved in violence 

- white inmates were a lot more likely to be involved in drug and alcohol abuse 

Allender & Marcell - gang members disproportionatley engage in acts of prison violence 

Evaluation 

Huff - gang members were 10x more likely to murder someone and 3x more likely to assualt someone 

DeLisi et al - inmates with prior street gang involvement were no more likely to take part in prison violence 

Fischer -isolating known gang members reduces violence by 50% 

Paterline & Peterson - it is the stressful and oppressive conditions that cause the aggression 

Davies & Burgess - experienced prison officers are less likely to suffer abuse 

Evaluation 

Sykes - 'Pains of Imprisonment' - certain deprivations are more liekly to increase the amount of aggression eg loss of freedom and loss of privacy 

McCorkle et al - overcrowding, lack of meaningful activity and lack of privacy all increase the amount of aggression 

Nijman et al - increased personal space doesn't decrease aggression 

Jiang & Fisher-Giorlando - found support for both models 

-deprivation model explains violence against staff 

-importation model explains violence against peers 

Wilson - Real World Application 

- if prisoners are kept in a hotel style environment there is a big decrease in the amount of aggression 

- this has been challenged by the government as they suggest that prisoners are being punished so they should not be put in a nice environment 

a model of the processes of genocide:

1. difficult social conditions 

2. scapegoating of less powerful groups 

3. negative evaluation and dehumanisation of target groups

4. moral values and rules become inapplicable and the killing beings 

5. the passivity of bystanders enhances the killing 

Evaluation - the importance of bystanders 

- the model shows that bystanders are very important 

- bystanders getting involved may cut down the duration of the event may it may not stop the severity of it 

- the target group may be dehumanised so they aren't worth any 'moral consideration' 

- in the Rwanadan genocide the target group were called 'cockroaches' 

Evaluation 

O'Brien - real world application - this may explain the violence against all of the immigrants 

Milgram - the Holocaust was caused by soliders following the orders of others 

Evaluation 

Mandel - this is a monocausal claim 

Goldhagen - the main cause of the Holocaust was anti-seminism so entratched in German people