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The Social Order of the Underworld : How Prison Gangs Govern the American Penal System by David Skarbek is a book available to read on EtoBox.

What is The Social Order of the Underworld : How Prison Gangs Govern the American Penal System about?

This book challenges the widely held view that inmates create prison gangs to promote racism and violence. On the contrary, gangs form to create order. Most people assume that violent inmates left to themselves will descend into a chaotic anarchy, but that's not necessarily the case. This book studies the hidden order of the prison underworld to understand how order arises among outlaws. It uses economics to explore the secret world of the convict culture, inmate hierarchy, and prison gang politics. Inmates engaged in illegal activity cannot rely entirely on state-based governance institutions, such as courts of law and the police, to create order. Correctional officers will not resolve a dispute over a heroin deal gone wrong or help kill a predatory rapist. Yet, the inmate social system is relatively orderly and underground markets flourish. In today's prisons, gangs play a pivotal role in protecting inmates and facilitating illicit commerce. They have sophisticated internal structures and often rely on elaborate written constitutions. To maintain social order, gangs adjudicate conflicts and orchestrate strategic acts of violence to negotiate the competing demands of inmates, gang

Author

David Skarbek

Publisher

Oxford University Press, USA

Published

2014

Language

EN

ISBN

9780199328499

Subjects

Economics, Political Science, Science

Rating

4.03 / 5 (99 ratings)

Updated

2026-03-14