"The Society of Captives," first published in 1958, is a classic of modern criminology and one of the most important books ever written about prison. Gresham Sykes wrote the book at the height of the Cold War, motivated by the world's experience of fascism and communism to study the closest thing to a totalitarian system in American life: a maximum security prison. His analysis calls into question the extent to which prisons can succeed in their attempts to control every facet of life--or whether the strong bonds between prisoners make it impossible to run a prison without finding ways of "accommodating" the prisoners. Re-released now with a new introduction by Bruce Western and a new epilogue by the author, "The Society of Captives" will continue to serve as an indispensable text for coming to terms with the nature of modern power.
Table of Contents
Introduction to the Princeton Classic Edition
Preface xxvii Introduction
Chapter One: The Prison and Its Setting
Chapter Two: The Regime of the Custodians
Chapter Three: The Defects of Total Power
Chapter Four: The Pains of Imprisonment
Chapter Five: Argot Roles
Chapter Six: Crisis and Equilibrium
Chapter Seven: A Postscript for Reformers
Epilogue: The Structural-Functional Perspective on Imprisonment
