GordonH.Barkern/an/an/an/a
and ThomasW.Adamsn/an/an/an/a
The Social Structure of a Correctional Institution1
Every social grouping develops patterns of interrelationships
that have significance for the members of those groupings. These patterns
are sometimes called the social structure and such a structure exists in
every assemblage of persons which is more than temporary.
The social structure of an institution which handles more than one
hundred boys in a special capacity has a very definite effect on the
population of that institution. On occasion this effect may be negative. In
fact, there are many important ways in which this social structure may
clearly create problems which can be detected through an analysis of the
culture patterns that develop among the boys who reside in such
institutions as Reformatories, State Industrial Schools, and Orphanages.
This paper attempts to analyze this effect of the social structure in a
boy’s Industrial School which houses two hundred boys or more.
Groupings in general vary according to many factors and the effects of
these groupings are subject to scrutiny by trained personnel as well as by
lay persons. For example, the impact of the family grouping with its
emphasis on intense interaction between the parent figures through the
male and female role and mother-father roles and their children is very
different from that pattern in a community grouping where the roles are
more diversified and less personal and intense. The child in the family
structure is affected by the intensity and emotional attachments in the
interaction. His learning is very different from the learning that occurs
in a broader and more impersonal social structure such as a public school
system. The social structure of the community is broad and general for the
most part and the roles are less distinct. The learning or socialization
that occurs in community living is again different from that which exists
in the family or the school.…
The social structure of an institution which is geared toward
re-education of delinquent boys is indeed of a vast range. The major
aspects of the structure are centered around an authoritarian system of
adult personnel playing the role of the supervisor and the educator of the
child. The boy is expected to accept a pattern of submission to the
dominance of the adult. He is expected to defer to the demands and
decisions and directives of the adult figures. These adults are different
from parents because the child is not expected to identify himself
emotionally with them as he would with his mother or father. Identification
and emotional attachment do not exist for him in this adult-leader
situation. His response in learning and development is different from the
family life that he has had prior to his commitment to the institution. His
learning is based on his ability to conform to the requirements of the
personnel in charge. There is very little in the way of idealization and
emulation between the authoritarian personnel and the child in the
school. The many aspects of contact are different and almost indescribable
in the family setting, whereas in the institution, the contact tends to be
linear and categoric with little variation in quality.
Another major difference is the existence of a homogeneity in terms of
sex. The student population is composed of boys entirely in a special age
grouping. The adult personnel is composed of both men and women. The impact
of the male population is very different from that of the social structure
of the community in which the boy lived prior to his commitment. The very
definite problems with sexual matters and identification of this age group
are naturally different from those of the broader culture outside. The
institutional structure has a profound impact in that at best it is but a
substitute, albeit an inadequate substitute of necessity.
CULTURE PATTERNS REVEAL INSTITUTIONAL PROBLEMS
Many problems develop in institutional living, some of which are easily
detected through the culture patterns that spring up among the boys. A
culture pattern is a way of doing something which is distinct and can be
observed as a real and persistent expression over a period of time.…
One thing stands out clearly in the relations of the existing culture
patterns. This problem of relationships is called polarity. Issues tend to
become polarized in extremes very easily in the institutional structure.
The barriers between the children and the adults are frequently very rigid
and the social distance is acute. Polarity often occurs between ethnic or
racial groups with an intense amount of negative feelings developing. There
are strong polarities in regard to sexual manifestations. The boys with
problems over sexual identification often find themselves alienated from
the others through various culture patterns that develop.
Polarity means the absence of good communication lines for the most
part. Acceptance of another individual is often impeded by the effect of
rigidity of ideas and interaction. Once a person becomes categorized, he
often finds that his entire actions are judged in terms of the limited
perception of his category that has developed. Polarization often means a
reaction by the institutional personnel that becomes entrenched against a
particular child or group of children. The possibility of learning or
modification is endangered.
In order to break down the barrier in communication that develops
through the polarization of issues, a member of the adult personnel must
have extraordinary skills and a vast perspective about the total
institution. It is difficult for the personnel, for example, to help a
child work through a feeling of being considered a bully. The label or
concept circulates throughout the institution and thus persons react to the
child as if he were expressing his aggressiveness and dominance in all
phases of his group living. To effect a change in this situation, the adult
person must understand the nature of the interaction of the child with his
peers, the feelings he has toward adult-child relationships, his own
self-concept, and many other factors. Frequently, institutions reinforce
bad self-concepts and behavior patterns by making them seem synonymous with
the child in every action he portrays.
The boys outside correctional institutions are not confronted with the
same kinds of problems that boys within the gates face. The structure of
the institution has many important functions in this regard. For example, a
boy in school may have an acute disagreement with a boy next to him and
have an impending fight scheduled later in the day. This may become lost in
the larger community when the boys leave the schools and have the freedom
to go with those whom they choose and where they choose. The freedom of
movement is very different for a boy in the larger community structure
from what it is for the boy in the institution. If conflicts develop along
very personal lines in which there is a desire to engage in fighting, the
boys are kept in close association and the tight social structure produces
intensity of response. The boys do not have the freedom to get out of the
impact of the situation they create when there is a flare-up of hostility.
Some courses of action seems to demand immediate attention with little
ability to alter the situation. Relationships have a tendency to move under
greater stress and tension in a closed structure such as an institution
than they do in the broader social systems of the public schools and the
neighborhoods.
The behavior problems of the institutional child permeate the closer
situational living more intricately than they possibly would in the public
school. The boys are forced to live with the problems in all phases of
their lives in closed institutions.
The culture patterns of the children in the correctional institutions
often are diagnostic of the problems that are created and manifested among
the boys. When there is an ability to gain insight from the culture
patterns as to the important issues and problems to be dealt with in the
institution, the staff that is trained to handle such problems is at a
great advantage. Some of these culture patterns are now discussed at
length.
"BIG SHOTISM" AS A CULTURE PATTERN
In almost all groupings, power-status hierarchies develop. There is no
exception in an Industrial School. The function of the "big-shot" is deeply
significant to the entire social structure of the institution. The person
who achieves a position of power and dominance over the other boys is the
big-shot. There seem to be two distinct types of power leaders. The one is
the boy who achieves his position through
brute force. He is able physically to best anyone who counters him. He
usually has a cluster of lieutenants who administer his feelings and force
throughout the groupings that exist. He solicits favors from others and
takes things from them without having to worry about the effects of being
detected by the administration. The other boys are afraid to resist in any
way. The power arrangement here is very important because a shift in power
means a great deal to the entire functioning of the population of the
school. There is an intense interplay between the minority groups and the
position of the big-shot. Often the size and strength of the minority
ethnic group determine which person will be the big-shot.
A very significant thing develops in many institutions. There tend to be
very high rates of delinquency among various ethnic groups which seem to
have low status positions in the dominant culture. In the southern part of
the United States, there are high rates of crime and delinquency among
Negroes. There are also high rates in large urban areas. The population of
Negroes in some state institutions is frequently very high. In the
southwestern and western states, the rates of delinquency are very high
among the Spanish-American and Mexican-American children. In some state
institutions in these areas, the population of the institution is the
reverse of the regular population because the Spanish-Americans are the
minority group in these states as a rule. With the tables turned, there are
often needs to retaliate against the members of the institutions who are
non-Spanish. The reaction is often hostile and aggressive.
Shifts in institutional population often influence patterns of
interaction. For instance, if the big-shots and power leaders in a company
assignment follow an ethnic line and they are removed either through parole
or isolation due to misconduct, the status hierarchy is changed and the
new groups begin to vie for power and control. Vengeance and seeking of
retribution often provoke a battle between the groups. The symbols and ways
of doing things indicate the particular problems that are responses to the
problems of ethnic or racial conflicts. When a person in charge is aware of
the expressions of prejudice and racial hatred and their effects in the
status hierarchy and the total institution, he has an enormously useful
insight that he can implement professionally for the purpose of controlling
situations.
The second type of leader that often develops in the institution is the
so-called charismatic leader. This person holds the groups in his power
through their emotional attachment to him. He does not have to apply a
strong-arm method of control. He still dictates the events and can have
control of the persons with whom he deals and he tends to be the real
decision-maker among the boys, but his control is through their
identification with his appeal as a strong person. His control is often
very tenuous due to the impact of the institutional structure because he
finds himself constantly being judged by both the boys and the
administrators. Any wrong move that would deflect his character means a
problem for him in terms of his mastery of the others around him. There are
fewer charismatic leaders than big-shots in institutions for
correction.
SEXUAL IDENTIFICATION AS A CULTURE PATTERN
Perhaps the most important cluster of culture patterns exist in the area
of sexual identification and dilemma. There are many expressions of these
problems in the institutional structure. The boys who come to Industrial
schools are usually in the prepuberty or puberty stage and have a
sufficient amount of anxiety about their new sexual role. There are times
when they wish to experiment with the new surges in their bodies and the
new emotional states that exist for them. The contagion of
a large group of boys frequently arouses exaggerated responses. The past
training and socialization of the boys means a good deal also in the manner
in which the new energies and interests are expressed. There are several
striking culture patterns that develop and an analysis of them is very much
needed.
In recent studies and observations, there appears to be a large number
of children who come to the correctional institutions who were living with
their mothers only. Many of the boys have been deserted by their fathers at
a very early age and thus the boys have grown up with their mothers. In
other cases there are family relationships which indicate that the boys
have had a very poor relationship with their fathers due to some form of
personal disorganization that the fathers have experienced, such as
alcoholism, imprisonment, mental illness, physical incompetence and long
records of unemployment and others. Thus the end result is that the fathers
have not been good role models for the boys and they have thus failed to
assist their children in formulating male role requirements in the culture
and internalizing the social skills to play the male role adequately.
Thus a boy may come to the school with a good deal of anxiety about his
role position and the needed skills to handle himself properly or, in some
cases, he may come with the need to understand what the expectations of the
culture are for him as a young man and an eventual male adult. Coupled with
this failure to experience this very essential identification and
idealization with the adult male figure in the form of the father is the
fact that most of these boys have been forced to learn almost exclusively
from female figures. Many have mothers who are dominant in their attachment
to the child. The over-identification with the feminine figure and the
feeling that the mother is the only one who can give warmth and support
combine to produce a dependency on the female figure. The anxieties here
are very keen. The child also experiences the pressures in his
socialization of the compulsion to express his masculinity when he reaches
this pre-adolescent and adolescent age. The demands are clear in the
culture that he should play the male role and not do anything that would
subject him to being called a sissy or too much like a girl. With his
identification with the mother and the lack of internalization of male role
requirements, he often experiences a good deal of anxiety. Then, his age
also indicates that he is developing biologically with a surgence of new
sexual energy. The dilemma is often very great. If he is left with his peer
group as the instructor, he often feels a need to overreact and prove how
very tough and masculine he really is and thus his behavior becomes
anti-social because he frequently confuses masculinity with being tough
and bad and hard. Much delinquency is precisely an expression of this very
personal masculine protest.
. . . . . . . . . . . . . .
POLARITY AS A VARIATION OF SEXUAL IDENTIFICATION
Another variation of the problem of sexuality and dilemma can be noted
in a polarity that springs up among the boys. When a boy indicates that he
is probably possessed with too many feminine traits and has failed to
demonstrate his ultra-masculine compulsiveness, he finds himself in a
conflict situation. The boys who fall in the category of being feminine,
weak, and cowards are called by various names. They may be called "fruits"
or "crackouts" or "chickens." They are resented and attacked by the other
boys who see themselves as the tough and strong boys. There is a definite
polarity that exists between these groups. Social relationships follow
these lines in great part. There is also a vague feeling that the matter of
legality and conformity to the institution’s rules are associated with
being the "crackout" or the "fruit."
The failure to have had a significant identification and emotional
attachment with the father in early childhood produces many problems for
these boys who come to Industrial schools. There is resentment and
belligerence toward the male figure because of the desertion and alienation
that has existed between the child and his father. The above discussion
indicates the effects of the over-identification with the female figure and
the reaction formations that develop. There are also culture patterns that
exist which clearly indicate the further problems that the boys have with
their male identification anxieties. Again the aspect of polarity is very
important. The males with whom the boys would identify are the adult
personnel in the institution. These might be teachers, the shop attendants,
the administrators, the clinical and social service personnel and others.
If a boy identifies with one of the male personnel, the other boys begin to
tell him that this man "is your daddy." Such a statement is said with
resentment and anger, and to be told that one of the employees is "your
daddy" is a negative and destructive thing. Further dynamics of the
situation are very involved. In the first place the boy may feel that the
male figures have been desertive and often objectionable people in his past
life. There is some resentment. A boy feels he should not trust a man
because of the past experiences of desertion and hatred from the father.
Again, if he does identify with the male, he is aligning himself with the
adult authoritarian structure of the institution and such a process holds
much negative sanction among the boys. Then the sexuality angle develops
because if a boy tells another boy that a particular male figure in the
institution is "your daddy," the ultimate meaning is that this man must be
having sexual relations with the mother of that boy. The emotional
dynamite here is vast. The tension is again increased when such a culture
pattern has an important place in the lives of these children.
A further aspect of the problem of polarity in the institutional social
structure appears. There is reason to believe that in some institutions
some boys are actually strengthened in their delinquent adjustments. The
dynamics involved here are very intense and subtle. Many boys come to a
correctional institution with some very deep personal anger and hostility
toward their worlds and significant people in them. They have often been
brutalized to the point where they manifest a hardened exterior with a very
deeply embedded cynicism and anger toward the parent figures and the
broader social systems. They often react against the dominant value
structure and develop the feeling that anything that is valuable and
acceptable for the dominant culture is wrong for them and vice versa. The
boy becomes polarized in regard to the feeling that he cannot become a
significant figure in the culture around him and thus he develops a feeling
of alienation from the culture. If he has been brutalized through
vindictive and cruel punishment or observation of very distraught parent
figures, he frequently develops strong feelings of cynicism and hostility
and further alienates himself from the world around him. He frequently
begins to strike out aggressively against legalized norms and the people
whose function it is to administer control in the culture. He begins to
feel that he cannot possibly accept legitimate standards because a
compromise would mean weakness or laying himself open to be hurt further in
his relations with people who he feels are so very different from him. If
an institution has within it a structure of punishment and discipline
that is largely corporal and vindictive and prolonged punishment, the
chances are that the boy who functions with alienated feelings and deep
hostility will be further reinforced in these feelings and become a
dangerous or potentially explosive individual. Some institutions insure the
world of having murderers and destructive criminals and delinquents through
their treatment program if it is one that deals with conflicts through
abuse and terror and irrational retribution. The real movement of the
individual in this situation seems to be further alienation from the
dominant culture. The alienation is colored with hostility and rigorous
cynicism. The world is cruel and the only way to cope with it is by being
more cruel and strong. This description is frequently too real in too many
cases of children who become brutalized and express their dismay and anger
through the most atrocious behavior patterns.
CULTURE PATTERNS WHICH EMPHASIZE WEAK AND NEGATIVE
ASPECTS OF THE CHILD
Another culture pattern that exists in the institutional structure
refers to the problem of self-concept and the fact that people do act in
terms of the way they deeply feel about themselves. When a boy comes to the
school, he is accepted into the group of boys either with ease or with
varying amounts of difficulty. He is scrutinized by the boys and then is
evaluated by them in terms of his abilities and toughness and the factors
of confidence among the boys and the polarity with the administrative
staff. He is also viewed as an individual. Unfortunately, the boys tend to
select the physically maladjusted or psychologically inhibiting aspects of
the other children and then to use them further to strengthen any negative
feelings that the boy might have about himself. If he has a number of
pimples on his face, he is referred to as "pimples." If he has a limp in
his walk, he is referred to as the "crip" or "popo." If he has scars on his
face or body, he is called "scars." If he is overweight, he is called
"blimp." If he is underweight, he is called "boney." There are many of
these negative nicknames that are given to the boys. Very rarely is there a
positive one. There seem to be strong indications that the boys are
attempting to deride the fellow students, apparently in the belief that
it heightens their own status to do so.
Most of the boys who are sent to Industrial schools have fairly negative
self-concepts. They see themselves as being very worthless and bad
individuals. The institutional structure often creates a psychological
situation which reinforces these negative self-concepts. The manner in
which a person feels about himself is very meaningful in terms of his
behavior in specific situations.
. . . . . . . . . . . . . .
A correctional institution is a very complicated place with many events
occurring every day. Every interpersonal relation that develops is
important in the total structure of social interaction. The culture
patterns that exist are often very good indicators of the individual and
group problems that exist. These culture patterns need to be thoroughly
understood and dealt with by the staff that is trained to rehabilitate the
children.…
1 From ,
1959, 49:417–422. By permission.