In Search of Generativity in Prison Officer Work: balancing Care and Control in Custodial Settings

Generativity, defined as the actions of an individual or group that enable others to care in meaningful ways for themselves and their significant others, has become an important concept for thinking about desistance from crime. In this article, we explore opportunities for prison officers in metropo...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Halsey, Mark (Author)
Contributors: Deegan, Simone
Format: Electronic Article
Language:English
Published: 2017
In: The prison journal
Year: 2017, Volume: 97, Issue: 1, Pages: 52-78
Online Access: Volltext (Resolving-System)
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Keywords:
Care
Control
Generativity
Officer culture
Prison officers
Description
Summary:Generativity, defined as the actions of an individual or group that enable others to care in meaningful ways for themselves and their significant others, has become an important concept for thinking about desistance from crime. In this article, we explore opportunities for prison officers in metropolitan and regional South Australia to model and/or engage in generative conduct. We find the emergence of generativity to be idiosyncratic—linked to individual officer’s capacities to resist the dominant “us” versus “them” culture—and to be often thwarted by a fatalistic outlook. Correctional policy implications are discussed.
ISSN:1552-7522
DOI:10.1177/0032885516679380