Premium
The contamination of personal space: boundary construction in a prison environment
Author(s) -
Sibley David,
Van Hoven Bettina
Publication year - 2009
Publication title -
area
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.958
H-Index - 82
eISSN - 1475-4762
pISSN - 0004-0894
DOI - 10.1111/j.1475-4762.2008.00855.x
Subject(s) - prison , space (punctuation) , interpersonal communication , sociology , power (physics) , boundary (topology) , discipline , principal (computer security) , social psychology , criminology , psychology , computer security , computer science , social science , mathematics , physics , mathematical analysis , operating system , quantum mechanics
In this paper, inmates in dormitories in a prison in New Mexico, USA, talk about their everyday lives. We are particularly interested in the ways in which they think about space. Their principal concern appears to be the definition of personal space in an environment where boundaries are weak. The paper focuses on anxieties about contamination which serve to define real and imaginary spaces within the prison. Interpersonal relationships figure more in inmates’ observations than does the disciplinary regime and the material environment of the prison. We argue that this has important implications for understanding space–power relations in institutional settings.