Prison Discourse: Language as a Means of Control and Resistance

With powerful data from within a big city prison, this book clarifies the role that conversational analysis can have within a critical discourse analysis perspective. In a detailed linguistic analysis of the language use of prison officers and prisoners involved in a prison-based course, the author charts the shifting power relations of control and resistance and situates the findings in a broader sociological analysis of the prison as an institution. The study should interest sociolinguists, discourse analysts and researchers in communication studies, criminology and counselling.