Resistance as Agency? Incorporating the Structural Determinants of Prisoner Behaviour

Challenging and destabilizing official discourses: irony as a resistance resource in institutional talk

“…The examination is further inspired by Rubin (2017, following Giddens 1976, who incorporated structural determinants in her analysis of institutional behaviour not as something separate from, and contrasting with, agency, but rather in a mutually constitutive relationship with it. As Rubin points out, resistance is not only a reaction to the dominant institutional regime; that regime also always enables, constructs and shapes resistance through the influence of the structural conditions it imposes.…”

“…In this way, irony, in its many forms, often 'facilitates handling the complexity and interplay between multiple realities' in an institutional context (Johansson and Woodilla 2005, 28). Thus conceived, however, resistance is not simply about reacting to institutional and working conditions; it is also itself enabled, created and shaped by the very same factors (Rubin 2017). When internal criticism is not welcomed and instead risks incurring retaliation from superiors, irony becomes one of the few available vehicles for its expression, whereby the resistance then becomes covert and shaped by the cultural and structural conditions prevailing within the organization.…”

“…The suggested need for conflict-free venues, and humour and irony as a device to establish these venues, clarifies how resistance is not simply about reacting to institutional conditions: it is also itself enabled, created and shaped by the very same conditions (cf. Scott 1985;Rubin 2017). The specific forms of resistance reflect the conditions and constraints under which they are generated (Scott 1985, 242); when risking reprisals for speaking out, covert speech is needed.…”

Forging Selfhood: Social Categorisation and Identity in Arizona's Prison Wildfire Programme

“…Rubin () furthers the argument that prisons are non‐monolithic spaces by exploring the role that the prison itself plays in the actions of incarcerated people. She writes: ‘the prison regime is not only the force against which prisoners react but also the source material that assists or makes prisoners’ actions possible’ (p.650).…”

“…They argue for the importance of challenging 'depictions of prisons as environments that are unwaveringly sterile, unfailingly aggressive, or emotionally undifferentiated' (Crewe et al 2014, p.56). Rubin (2017) furthers the argument that prisons are non-monolithic spaces by exploring the role that the prison itself plays in the actions of incarcerated people. She writes: 'the prison regime is not only the force against which prisoners react but also the source material that assists or makes prisoners' actions possible' (p.650).…”