Institutional aggression

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An institution is a place governed by a person, group or authority. They have strict social guidelines. 

This form of aggression involves the behaviour of those serving in institutions.

Acts of institutional aggression range from physical abuse of individuals during 'initiation rituals', to acts designed to destroy national, ratial or religious groups. 

Agentic state - the state of mind in which people believe they are acting for someone else, they are the other person's agent, and so they do not have personal responsibility for actions.

Situational explanations

Deprivation model:

  • The prison environment means prisoners are not able to for healthy relationships. 
  • Skyes (1958) 5 deprivations:
    • Deprivation of liberty - rejected by society, loss of identity
    • Deprivation of autonomy - prisoners have no control
    • Deprivation of goods and services - loss of possessions
    • Deprivation of heterosexual relationships - reduction of self worth and increase in homosexual behaviour causes anxiety
    • Deprivation of security - fear of general wellbeing.

The role of prison characteristics - Cooke et al (2008) violent prisoners are only violent in certain circumstances. 

  • Overcrowding
  • Heat and noise
  • Job burnout.

Evaluation:

  • + Cunningham analysed 35 inmate homicides in Texas prisons and found motivation for the behaviours were linked to deprivation factors.
  • + McCorkle found that situational factors such as overcrowding, lack of privacy and lack of meaningful activity significantly influenced inmate-inmate assults in a study of 371 US prisons. 
  • + Real world application - Wilson found that reducing the temperature and noise levels virtually eradicated assults on prison…

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