Derived from the education division of China, this study emphasizes the urban-rural divide in students’ results of the NCEE (National College Entrance Examination). The NCEE is the official selection examination for higher education and the final examination of high school in Mainland China. As the major criterion in higher education selection, the divide can be found in the NCEE results of urban and rural students in which urban students are able to get higher grades than rural students. Aiming to discover the urban-rural divide in the NCEE results from how students prepare the NCEE in their high schools, this study uses a case of graduates of a “super high school” as an example. A “super high school” is a type of high school where achieving top performances of the NCEE is the goal of all pedagogic activities. Both urban and rural students can be enrolled in a “super high school”. The “super high schools” are common in overpopulated areas of China. In one way, the differences of urban and rural students in their high school studies can be perceived within a “super high school”; furthermore, the certain pedagogical activities of a “super high school” may influence students’ behaviours and trigger the urban-rural divide. Based on the theoretical frameworks of Pierre Bourdieu’s concept of capital, his theory of symbolic violence, and Erving Goffman’s theory of total institution, ten high school graduates as well as three of their high school teachers are interviewed in this study. The analysis focuses on three aspects, the differences between urban and rural students in terms of their educational resources and practices in high school, their behaviours in a “super high school”, and their attitudes towards the NCEE system. In summary, this study finds out that firstly, urban parents have more economic capital, social capital, and cultural capital than rural parents and they can offer more educational resources to their children in high school. Secondly, urban students are not very supportive of the “super high school” model but they can get more help from their teachers, while rural students strongly follow the “super high school” model but they don’t often get more help from their teachers. Last but not least, rural students attach great importance to the NCEE and their NCEE results, but urban students do not always think so.

Total institutions' (which include prisons) unique context prescribes "confinement" of inmates. Coping mechanisms applied "outside" (especially the ability to create distance from stressful events) is thus ineffective. Another common feature is lack of privacy, which may result in "forced intimacy" - individuals being forced into a situation of physical and psychological "invasion" (beyond the norm) of their person/personal space. Victims lose control over intimate decisions, including who may and may not be intimate with them. Within prisons, gangs "force intimacy" by sexually victimizing inmates, taking advantage of the context to heighten their power, and to control inmates "under" them. Four (subjects) victims' experiences and means of adaptation/ empowerment were investigated phenomenologically. Results indicated that inadequately empowered victims suffer prolonged and repeated victimization - a continued "posttraumatic stress disorder" - which is more traumatizing and draining than one circumscribed traumatic event (due to its intensity, immobilization and resulting drastic change of "personality"). / Psychology / M.A. (Clinical Psychology)

La présente étude a comme objectif de saisir et comprendre l’univers carcéral de par l’expérience des hommes incarcérés pour la première fois. À partir d’entrevues qualitatives menées auprès de vingt et un hommes incarcérés pour la première fois dans deux prisons du Québec, nous avons analysé les thèmes de la prison actuelle et de l’expérience carcérale d’un point de vue interactionniste. Il ressort de nos analyses, qu’à l’heure actuelle, en dépit des améliorations des conditions de détention, comme la décentralisation des pouvoirs et les droits accordés aux détenus, la prison demeure un environnement« totale » et « disciplinaire » qui terrorise les détenus et qui les soumets à une souffrance extrême. Ces conditions forcent les détenus à tenter de s’adapter cognitivement soit par la gestion du stress ou par la reprise de contrôle afin de retrouver un certain bien-être à l’intérieur des murs. / This study investigates how first time inmates experience life in prison. In order to gain greater knowledge of correctional centers and to better understand the impact of incarceration on prisoners, we carried out qualitative semi-structured interviews with twenty-one first time prisoners in two Québec prisons. Our analysis suggests that although much improvement has taken place in correctional facilities in the past thirty years, for instance the incursion of society inside the walls, the decentralization of power and the granting of inmate’s rights, prisons remain “total” and “disciplinary” institutions. Prisoners still experience the pains of imprisonment, still experience extreme fear and still suffer greatly. Prison adaptation is explained as a way for inmates to relive their suffering. Our findings suggest that the pursuit of control and efficient stress coping enables first-time inmates to attain a certain well being within the prison walls.

Notre étude s’interroge sur la construction de l’acteur « ennemi » dans l’institution sociale totale du camp de concentration à travers la comparaison de deux formes ; ceci dans des contextes sociaux, nationaux, idéologiques et étatiques différents – le camp de Rivesaltes et l’État Français et le camp de Béléné et la République Populaire de Bulgarie. Ces deux institutions sont traitées à partir de l’hypothèse de « différence de degré », qui se décline dans les notions de « singularité » et « pluralité », permettant de les saisir aussi bien au niveau politique qu’au niveau de l’institution concrète. Cette étude concerne la construction de la figure de l’acteur « ennemi » en partant du niveau social et politique pour arriver à la vie quotidienne au sein des deux formes concentrationnaires. Nous avons analysé la figure de l’ennemi, tout d’abord comme un produit d’une dynamique tournée vers la transformation sociale fondamentale. Nous avons également voulu comprendre les raisons d’apparition des formes concentrationnaires comme partie intégrante de ce « projet de société », et puis nous les avons analysées à travers la vie quotidienne qui s’établit en leur sein. L’institution concentrationnaire a assuré en soi une certaine stabilité qui lui a permis de bien remplir sa fonction dans la dynamique de transformation de la société. Cette stabilité est assurée par l’insertion de l’individu dans une série de cercles, sa soumission à une forme spécifique de pouvoir qui le transforme dans son essence de personne et d’être humain, mais aussi le posant comme un acteur dans un univers interactionnel particulier. Alors, quelle est la place de l’acteur « ennemi » dans la vie concentrationnaire et quelles interactions s’établissent-elles entre les différents acteurs au sein des camps ? / The present sociological study examines the construction of the "enemy" within the concentration camp, an absolute social institution, through the comparison of two forms, taken in their different social, national, ideological and state context – on one hand, the camp of Rivesaltes and the French government and, on the other hand, the camp of Belene and the People's Republic of Bulgaria. Both institutions are analyzed with the assumption of "difference of degree," developed by the concept of "singularity " and " plurality " which allows to identify them in their political dimension as well as on the concrete institutional level.This study deals with the construction of the specific figure the "enemy" as a social actor starting from the social and political level and getting to the everyday life in both concentration camp forms. We analyzed the enemy figure, at first as a product of a dynamic facing a fundamental social transformation. We also took into account the main reasons of concentration forms occurrence as an integral part of this " social project ", and then we have analyzed the aforementioned reasons through everyday life.The camp institution has assured itself a degree of stability that has allowed it to fulfill its function in the dynamic transformation of society. This stability is ensured by the involvement of the individual in a series of circles, his submission to a specific form of power which transforms soundly his personal character and adjoin to his human being condition, but also defines him as an actor in a particular interactional universe. Finally, what is the role of the actor "enemy" in concentration camp life and what interactions different actors in the camps establish between themselves?

How much was a medieval monastery reminiscent of a modern prison? Or insane asylum? And if it was in the least - what can such a metaphor tell us about power relations structuring the life of medieval monks? The purpose of this compilation thesis (sammanläggningsavhandling) is to render explicit and analyze relations of power and modes of control comprising the social tissue of early medieval Benedictine monasteries. By bringing up the examples of tenth- and eleventh-century monasteries of St Gall, Fulda, and Bury St Edmunds, this thesis seeks to understand what power was in medieval monasteries, how and between whom it was exercised, what and how it affected in terms of collective and individual identity. The thesis consists of three introductory chapters, four previously published empirical articles, and a concluding remarks section. Article 1 investigates the problem of surveillance and patterns of social control dispersed in the monastery of St Gall. Article 2 studies the early and high medieval institutional expectations and means of enforcement of the monk’s role. Article 3 scrutinizes an example of a persecution process and a set of defense measures in the hands of the St Gall community warding off an unwanted visitor. Article 4 examines a number of internal monastic conflicts from several monasteries and strategies, both political and cognitive, guiding them. In investigating these problems, the thesis proceeds in a manner of deliberate anachronism. It asks questions about how human subjectivity was manufactured in early medieval St Gall, what were a medieval monastery’s ‘conditions of possibility’ to operate as a social regime, or oral and literary means of conflict management etc. The crucial modern social theories on which the thesis hinges are: Erving Goffman’s notion of ‘total institution’, and Michel Foucault’s analysis of power, as well as Pierre Bourdieu’s logic of action.

La présente étude a comme objectif de saisir et comprendre l’univers carcéral de par l’expérience des hommes incarcérés pour la première fois. À partir d’entrevues qualitatives menées auprès de vingt et un hommes incarcérés pour la première fois dans deux prisons du Québec, nous avons analysé les thèmes de la prison actuelle et de l’expérience carcérale d’un point de vue interactionniste. Il ressort de nos analyses, qu’à l’heure actuelle, en dépit des améliorations des conditions de détention, comme la décentralisation des pouvoirs et les droits accordés aux détenus, la prison demeure un environnement« totale » et « disciplinaire » qui terrorise les détenus et qui les soumets à une souffrance extrême. Ces conditions forcent les détenus à tenter de s’adapter cognitivement soit par la gestion du stress ou par la reprise de contrôle afin de retrouver un certain bien-être à l’intérieur des murs. / This study investigates how first time inmates experience life in prison. In order to gain greater knowledge of correctional centers and to better understand the impact of incarceration on prisoners, we carried out qualitative semi-structured interviews with twenty-one first time prisoners in two Québec prisons. Our analysis suggests that although much improvement has taken place in correctional facilities in the past thirty years, for instance the incursion of society inside the walls, the decentralization of power and the granting of inmate’s rights, prisons remain “total” and “disciplinary” institutions. Prisoners still experience the pains of imprisonment, still experience extreme fear and still suffer greatly. Prison adaptation is explained as a way for inmates to relive their suffering. Our findings suggest that the pursuit of control and efficient stress coping enables first-time inmates to attain a certain well being within the prison walls.

Total institutions' (which include prisons) unique context prescribes "confinement" of inmates. Coping mechanisms applied "outside" (especially the ability to create distance from stressful events) is thus ineffective. Another common feature is lack of privacy, which may result in "forced intimacy" - individuals being forced into a situation of physical and psychological "invasion" (beyond the norm) of their person/personal space. Victims lose control over intimate decisions, including who may and may not be intimate with them. Within prisons, gangs "force intimacy" by sexually victimizing inmates, taking advantage of the context to heighten their power, and to control inmates "under" them. Four (subjects) victims' experiences and means of adaptation/ empowerment were investigated phenomenologically. Results indicated that inadequately empowered victims suffer prolonged and repeated victimization - a continued "posttraumatic stress disorder" - which is more traumatizing and draining than one circumscribed traumatic event (due to its intensity, immobilization and resulting drastic change of "personality"). / Psychology / M.A. (Clinical Psychology)

Notre société possède une vaste coulisse contenant nombre d’individus considérés comme improductifs, déviants, inadaptés. Un partie de cette coulisse a pour fonction de contenir ces individus, et de les maintenir, parfois une vie durant, à la périphérie de notre évolution sociétale, dans des espaces n’ayant qu’une porosité réduite voir nulle avec la matrice sociale de référence. Ce processus de maintien repose sur la logique de filière : institution pour enfants, puis pour adolescents, puis pour adultes travailleurs, puis maison de retraite adaptée. La stabilisation de cette population dans ces cantonnements se fabrique avec les effets pervers du fonctionnement institutionnel, et notamment avec la violence institutionnelle qui régule ce fonctionnement. Pour illustrer cette idée, et tenter de décortiquer cette violence (issue d’une commande utopique, d’une mission originellement impossible à mettre en place) qui entrave les rouages de tout établissement « spécialisé », notre travail de recherche propose de mettre en perspective cette violence institutionnelle, inhérente au fonctionnement d’un institut-médico-professionnel recevant des adolescents placés et orientés par les instances officielles pour « déficience intellectuelle légère ». Cette étude est une ethnographie de terrain, puisque la méthode de travail repose exclusivement sur une observation participante. L’auteur, endossant la mission d’instituteur spécialisé, a passé six ans dans la structure avec ce statut, avant de l’observer pendant deux autres années, consignant sur un carnet de bord des scènes de vie quotidienne se déroulant dans l’institution (salle de classe, couloirs, salle du personnel, salle de réunion, réfectoire, …), mais aussi à l’extérieur de l’institution (rue, espaces divers, …). Inspiré par la sociologie d’Erving Goffman, cette analyse institutionnelle qualifie la structure selon des concepts goffmaniens (institution totale, institution totalitaire), des concepts de l’école de Chicago réajustés (institution bâtarde), voire des concepts élaborés (institution stigmate). Nous proposons de démontrer comment la promiscuité entre les usagers, l’hétérogénéité de la population, la complexité de la mission confiée à l’institution, la sanction du placement institutionnel, et la condition du personnel fabriquent un ensemble complexe, inextricable, pathogène, bridant l’évolution du pensionnaire de l’institution médico-sociale, « l’ajustant » à la filière suivante, et le maintenant dans une coulisse sociale ne lui offrant pas de perspective échappatoire, ni de retour vers « la société mère ». / In our society there is a vast wing containing a number of individuals who are considered unproductive, abnormal or maladjusted. Part of its function is to contain and maintain these individuals, sometimes for an entire lifetime, on the edges of our society's evolution, in spaces, which have only limited or no contact with mainstream society. This process of maintenance follows a chain of logic: an institution for children, likewise for teenagers, then for working adults, then an adapted nursing home. The stabilisation of this population within this system, perversely, is facilitated by function of the institution, and in particular by the culture of institutional violence through which it is regulated. To illustrate this, and to try to analyse this form of violence, which derives from a utopian order, from a mission which is fundamentally impossible to implement, and which hinders the wheels of every 'specialised' establishment: the present research puts into perspective the institutional violence, inherent, as it is, in the operation of an institut-medico-professional (a state special needs training facility) which receives teenagers who have been placed there by officials for 'slight mental retardation'. This research is an insider-study, as the method of research derives exclusively from participatory-observation. The author spent six years working as a Special Needs Teacher inside the establishment studied; then, for a further two years, systematically recorded into his logbook scenes of daily life, which took place within this institution (e.g. in classrooms, corridors, the staff room, meeting rooms, the cafeteria). Inspired by the social theories of Erving Goffman, this institutional analysis describes the target in terms of Goffman's concepts of “Total Institutions”, adjusted concepts from the Chicago School (“Bastard Institutions”), and elaborated concepts of “Stigma Institution”. This research proposes to demonstrate how the proximity and heterogeneity of the inmates, the complexity of the mission entrusted to the institution, the sanction of institutionalising a child, and the working conditions of the staff, all have resulted in a combination which is complex, pathogenic and intractable. Thus it restrains the evolution of the inmates of the institut-medico-professional, it “adjusts” them to follow along within the system, and places them within a social wing, which offers them neither any perspective on how to escape, nor any path to return to the “mainstream society”.

This thesis is a reassessment of the concept of the ‘fort community’ and analysis of the people who dwelled within it, utilising archaeological evidence from the northern frontier of Roman Britain. Traditional approaches which have focused on military functions or on military-civilian dichotomies cannot provide a full account of discrepant identities (Mattingly 2011). A holistic approach which acknowledges and incorporates non-military activities can provide an important alternative perspective into how the inhabitants of Roman fort communities related to one another. The thesis utilises Lewis Coser’s concept of the ‘greedy institution’ (1974) to resituate the imbalance of power affecting identity within the Roman military. The discussion is framed within nested layers of identity and community. In the first chapter, a historical overview of Roman military scholarship is presented that contextualises the current archaeological climate and illustrates key issues of bias. Three core forms of identity are analysed in the second chapter in the context of the Roman auxilia; socio-cultural, gender, and ethnicity. This discussion positions the auxiliaries as a group both empowered and subjugated, consisting of ‘martial races’ exploited within a military role. In the third chapter, the textual evidence for identity on the northern frontier is analysed, using epigraphy and the Vindolanda tablets. Within these the discrepant identities of members of the fort communities are identified. In the fourth chapter, I analyse the architectural underpinnings of military identity through an examination of the development and ideology of the ‘standard plan’ fort. In the fifth chapter, I analyse the material evidence for the habitus of fort community life, focusing on three activity contexts; military display, craft and industry, and bodily consumption. The thesis concludes by assessing the strengths of the ‘greedy institution’ approach and outlining its significance with regards to future research.

The subject of this thesis is a description and analysis of life imprisonment prisoners' daily life. The thesis deals with wider integration of daily life in jail. The jail as an institution and its impact on prisoners' life is described in theory. Problems of life imprisonment, key words connected with daily reality of total institutions and jail as a formal organization are also analysed. This work points out the lost of life imprisonment prisoner's identity and the importance of process adaptation in it. That means that life in jail is connected to identity lost during his collision with total institution. This process of identity lost is obvious particularly in of life imprisonment prisoners. In theoretical part of this thesis I derive from references of sociologists who work with topics of total institutions, stigmatization, moral career, technique of power and other sociological concepts. I try to show the impact of punishment on one's identity, what strategies of dealing with stress prisoners use and the whole picture of prisoner's personality impacted by the isolation from outer world to the end of the life. I would like to summarize the daily routine of life imprisonment prisoner. I suppose that this thesis doesn't give unambiguous conclusions but I would like to expound this sphere and...