Prison officers and esprit de corps. Ingroup and outgroup relationships in prison
| Published date | 01 October 2023 |
| DOI | http://doi.org/10.1177/14624745221129258 |
| Author | Alessandro Maculan,Maddalena Rodelli |
| Date | 01 October 2023 |
Prison officers and esprit de
corps. Ingroup and outgroup
relationships in prison
Alessandro Maculan∗
and Maddalena Rodelli∗
University of Padua, Italy
Abstract
This paper presents a qualitative study exploring the concept of esprit de corps in prison
officers (POs), through the interpretative lens of Social Identity Theory. The study relies
on semi-structured interviews conducted with 26 POs working in Italian correctional
facilities. Thematic analyses on the resulting data enabled us to identify POs’esprit de
corps as a complex and multidimensional construct that influences both their social
identification with their professional group and their interpersonal relationships with
members of their ingroup and outgroup. Findings from this study suggest that POs’
esprit de corps is a fundamental component of day-to-day prison life, taking effect on
the symbolic and relational levels, fostering loyalty and cohesion among ingroup mem-
bers, and contrast with members of the outgroup. We conclude that examining esprit
de corps as a construct can give an important contribution to our criminological and
sociological knowledge.
Keywords
correctional officers, esprit de corps, jail, qualitative methods, social identity theory
∗
The present article is the result of joint reflection by the two authors, starting from the sharing of their
respective research work. The sections “Prison officers in Italy”,“The symbolic dimension”,“Creation of the
outgroup”and “Conclusion”were written by Maculan, while Rodelli wrote the “Introduction”,“Method”and
“Creation of the ingroup”
Corresponding author:
Alessandro Maculan, Department of Philosophy, Sociology, Education and Applied Psychology, University of
Padua, Via Cesarotti, Padova (35123), Italy.
Email: alessandro.maculan@unipd.it
Article
Punishment & Society
2023, Vol. 25(4) 1023–1041
© The Author(s) 2022
Article reuse guidelines:
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DOI: 10.1177/14624745221129258
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Introduction
Esprit de corps is a term used in everyday speech and in the scientific literature to indicate
an awareness of, and pride in belonging to a particular social group. One of the first scho-
lars to accurately define this concept was Herbert Blumer, who describes it as “the sense
that people have of belonging together and of being identified with one another in a
common undertaking”(Blumer, 1951: 206). According to Blumer, esprit de corps is
an interactional concept based on a condition of rapport, and it stems mainly from: the
development of an ingroup-outgroup relations; the creation of intimacy and closeness
between group members; and participation in formal ceremonial behaviors. Esprit de
corps is characterized on the one hand by social acceptance, support, and shared
values among ingroup members, and it is constantly reinforced by their participation
in ceremonials and rituals. On the other hand, it assumes that there is an outgroup to
beware of, an enemy that “is felt to be attacking the values the ingroup holds dear.
Before the outgroup, the members of the ingroup not only feel that they are right and
correct, but believe they have a common responsibility to defend and preserve their
values”(ivi: 207). Given these features, esprit de corps can be seen as a core element nurt-
uring group solidarity, and lending solidity to a social group.
It is therefore hardly surprising that this concept has often been used in organizational
studies, especially with reference to the military world. In recent decades, many scholars
have explored the concept of esprit de corps, proposing various and often quite different
definitions of this construct. The latest meta-analysis on this topic (Boyt et al., 2005) pre-
sented a review of previous research, defining esprit de corps as an individual’s set of
positive feelings about their own group. Esprit de corps is more important than the com-
position of the group at any given time, as it may develop in a newly-formed group, and
persist even when some members leave. It can vary in intensity for different groups to
which an individual belongs, potentially generating role conflict. Esprit de corps may
be reinforced when group members experience threatening situations (ivi. 689).
According to Boyt et al. (2005), esprit de corps can also be distinguished from group
cohesion and solidarity due to its relative stability over time.
Within the field of criminology and penology, the concept of esprit de corps has
received little attention during the last decades, with the exception of the work done
by Bittner (1970) to situate its main features in the world of the police. According to
Bittner, police esprit de corps is grounded in police officers’working practices: they
often come up against dangerous situations demanding colleagues’unquestioned
support and loyalty. It is also strongly connected to the “quasi-military character”of
police forces (ivi: 70), and their typical codes of secrecy. In many ways, these features
attributable to police forces are also characteristic of prison officers (POs) and their
working practices (Crawley, 2011; Liebling et al., 2011). The construct of esprit de
corps has attracted little scholarly interest in the field of prison studies, however,
though the term has often been used generically as if it described a self-explanatory
concept that has no need to be clearly conceptualized. Some studies suggested that
POs’esprit de corps could be instilled during their professional training, when recruits
establish enduring bonds with one another, with a sense of pride, camaraderie, and
1024 Punishment & Society 25(4)
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