Abstract
Using the concept of social anchorage, this study attempts to find commonalities between the importation and deprivation models of prisonization. The basic issue addressed in this effort is the question of using social anchorage as a variable which subsumes significant ideas from both models. The literature on prisonization, it is argued, demonstrates that both models are useful and that both additive and interactive relationships between the models have been suggested. Assessing the impact of social anchorage on prisonization under the conditions of career phase, it is further argued, would be one means of demonstrating potential interaction of the two models. A sample of 399 inmates from two different units was used to test this idea. The study demonstrated that variables from both models do have significant impact on prisonization out that the impact varies according to career phase. The data also revealed that prisonization among social anchorage groups varied according to career phase with the low social anchorage group displaying a u-shaped pattern. Contrary to the researcher's predictions the high legitimate group got worse over the three phases and the high deviant group got slightly better. This mixed pattern was interpreted as evidence favoring an interactive model using both importation and deprivation ideas to explain prisonization. The results of the study indicate that the mid-point of a person's prison career is, as depicted by previous studies, very important in explaining prisonization for some inmates. However, the study also demonstrates that the late career phase is important, particularly for those inmates with high legitimate social anchorage.
Rhodes, Milton L. (1979). The impact of social anchorage on prisonization. Doctoral dissertation, Texas A&M University. Texas A&M University. Libraries. Available electronically from
https : / /hdl .handle .net /1969 .1 /DISSERTATIONS -152415.