Midterm Exam
1. The Russian writer Fyodor Dostoevsky remarked that “the degree of civilization in a
society can be judged by entering its prisons.” That is rightfully so, on the one hand. On
the other hand, prison environment is a society within itself: with its own rules,
authorities, values, etc. According to sociological group structuring, prison is a formal
secondary type of group. The purpose of the prison structure is keeping inmates behind
bars by both correcting their behavior and keeping them from committing more crimes at
large. That is, ideally, so to speak. Whether prisons do serve as correctional institutions or
not, is a subject for another debate. In prison, primary groups are often absent, which
means that the function of primary group “to provide people with a relatively secure
refuge in which they can be themselves without fear of rejection or ridicule” (Sullivan,
102) is absent. Consequently that breeds an adjustment in prisoners’ behavior – they feel
alienated or try to form groups at first, but then it all is “dissolved into “each man for
himself” (Zimbardo, 317). Zimbardo’s example with the blankets chosen over letting a
fellow-prisoner out of the solitary confinement is serves as a good illustration to the more
selfish behavior of the inmates. Also, the principles of in-groups and out-groups are
clearly demonstrated in the experiment, as an out-group of prison guards decreased and
changed the loyalty and cohesion of the on-groups of the prisoners. As far as prison
structure as a group is concerned, the guards were the leaders with task roles and clearly
