AUTHORITARIANISM AND THE BELIEF SYSTEM OF INCORRIGIBLES (FROM PRISON, STUDIES IN INSTITUTIONAL ORGANIZATION AND CHANGE BY D. R. CRESSEY - SEE NCJ-02358)

• NCJ Number: 6962
• Author(s): R H MCCLEERY
• Date Published: 1961
• Length: 47 pages
• Corporate Author: Holt, Rinehart and Winston
• Publication Format: Document
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America
• Note: CHAPTER 7, P 260-306

Annotation

STUDY OF THE ATTITUDES AND BELIEFS OF SEPARATELY CONFINED INCORRIGIBLE INMATES AT CENTRAL PRISON IN NORTH CAROLINA AND OAHU PRISON IN HAWAII.

Abstract

CERTAIN GENERAL CONCLUSIONS MAY BE DRAWN FROM STUDY OF THE MOST EXTREME AUTHORITARIAN SITUATIONS IN PRISONS, AND THESE CONCLUSIONS SEEM TO APPLY TO THE CULTURE OF ENTIRE PRISONS AS WELL. WHERE MEN ARE GOVERNED WITH REPRESSION, RESTRICTION, AND REGIMENTATION, BOTH THE SOCIAL SYSTEM AND THE BELIEF SYSTEM SEEM TO BECOME EXTREMELY RIGID. NEITHER AMBIGUITY NOR NONCONFORMITY CAN BE TOLERATED BY THE SOCIAL GROUP. THE SOCIAL STRUCTURE IS SHARPLY DEFINED AS A RIGID HIERARCHY. THE BELIEF SYSTEM IS EQUALLY RIGID AND DOGMATIC. IT IS PROTECTED FROM CRITICISM BY A WITHDRAWAL OF COMMUNICATION PROCESSES, IN A KIND OF INFORMAL SYSTEM OF CENSORSHIP AGAINST HOSTILE IDEAS, FROM THOSE WHO DO NOT CONFORM TO THE GROUP BELIEF. THE BELIEF SYSTEM OF INCORRIGIBLE GROUPS IS CONSERVATIVE AND CONVENTIONAL. THE THINKING IS MORALISTIC RATHER THAN PRAGMATIC, PROBABLY BECAUSE A FUNCTION OF THE BELIEF SYSTEM IS TO PROVIDE SELF-JUSTIFICATION TO A GROUP THAT IS BEING CONDEMNED. A POSSIBLE EXPLANATION OF THE SEQUENCE OF EVENTS LEADING TO COLLECTIVE VIOLENCE IS PROVIDED. (AUTHOR ABSTRACT MODIFIED)