Book Review:Prison Officers and Their World
| Author | Adrian Sandery |
| Published date | 01 December 1989 |
| Date | 01 December 1989 |
| DOI | http://doi.org/10.1177/000486588902200409 |
| Subject Matter | Book Reviews |
BOOK REVIEWS
279
has been conceptualised and theorised by sociologists. The remaining chapters then
look at the operation
of
social control in modern society in the three areas noted
above. It will be evident, then, that Edwards has set herself avery ambitious task
indeed which necessitates (1) making specific something as sociologically nebulous
as "social control"; (2) mastery
of
abroad range of sociological theory; (3) wide
ranging analysis ofthe legal, medical and social welfare areas.
It
is
to her credit that,
in my opinion, she goes some way towards achieving this. Ithink as well, that
her
thorough-going exegesis
of
research on the criminal justice system, for example,
which incorporates much of the recent feminist literature as well as more
"traditional" work on the role
of
the police, courts etc,
is
quite interesting.
Having said this, though, Ireally do wonder if she set herself atask that was going
to be impossible to achieve. The very breadth of the book meant that its focus was
blurred, and that there were one
or
two significant absences in the area ofthis
book
with which Iwas most familiar, the criminal justice system. Her·flowchart
of
the
system at work (p 122), drawn from Steven Box in 1971, now seems very dated
given the emphasis on diversion from courts in the form
of
cautions, pre-court
tribunals and so on, in most modern justice systems. Furthermore, there seemed
too much exegesis at the expense
of
argument at times in this and the related
chapters
on
medicine and social welfare. As such, Ido wonder if scholars in their
separate fields will gain much from areview of literature that should be well known
to them already.
For
the most part, Ithink she presents good overviews
of
three
separate systems
of
control in operation.
But
as to why they operate in the way they
do, Ido not think Iam much further on. The problem with any book such as this
is
that when the author concludes the section on law with areference to the
importance
of
Doreen
McBarnett's work (p 141), Ifeel that Ishould go to the
original rather than stay with the reviewer. There are further problems associated
with the scope
of
the book ("social control includes all social measures which
involve the management, curtailment, punishment, repression, direction
or
redirection
of
individuals and groups who are perceived to contribute athreat
or
problem for society"). It
is
not made clear whether it
is
abook about
"modern
society" with reference to Australian material where possible,
or
abook about
Australia, supplemented by reference to overseas research which also pinpoints
differences between Australia and other countries.
With regard to the theoretical section, then here Ithink that the enormous impact
ofMichael Foucalt
is
considerably underplayed. This is particularly surprising given
the book's subject -however, Foucalt seems to receive rather less coverage than
labelling theory. Ido not think he just made a"major contribution to the revisionist
history ofdeviance control systems and ideologies" (p 61) -it could be argued that
he invented it (as was once said of
Dr
W G Grace in an altogether different context)!
Overall, Ithink it
is
not so much aquestion of the book failing: the author has
avery good grasp
of
wide ranging research material.
It
is
the vast scope of the book
which ultimately defeats the attempt to marshall this.
Wellington
JOHN
PRATI
Prison Officers and Their World, Kelsey Kauffman, Harvard University Press
(1988) 290
pp,
$30.
Kauffman has written about prison officers and this makes
her
book somewhat
:unique and certainly important to both students
of
criminology and administrators
Iof
criminal justice systems at all levels. While the literature
on
prisons, prisoners
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