What Does Culture “Look Like”? Cultural Models,Heterogeneity,and the Meaning of Trust in a Women’s Prison

Abstract

“Culture” is frequently invoked as an explanatory device in criminology and criminal justice. Research examining the “culture” of women’s prisons emphasizes the salience of trust relationships for understanding social order. However, this work primarily documents the importance of trust, with less attention to understanding the meanings incarcerated women attribute to trust relationships. This manuscript presents two studies examining the cultural domain of trust in a women’s prison. Study 1 uses qualitative inquiry (n = 29) to identify key themes regarding the meaning of the domain. Building from these findings, Study 2 (n = 198) develops quantitative measures to examine a cultural model of trust. Results for Study 2 reveal two cultural models of trust (i.e., a multicentric cultural domain) and highlight how knowledge of the cultural model correlates with beliefs relevant to the setting (i.e., cultural consonance). Implications for the study of culture in criminology and criminal justice are discussed.

Keywords

prison qualitative analysis quantitative methods measurement prisons

Get full access to this article

View all access options for this article.

References

Anders

(2017). CCTpack: Cultural Consensus Theory applications to data (R package version 1.5.2).

Anders

Alario

F.-X.

Batchelder

W. H.

(2018). Consensus analysis for populations with latent subgroups: Applying multicultural consensus theory and model-based clustering with CCTpack. Cross-Cultural Research, 52(3), 274–308. https://doi.org/10.1177/1069397117727500

Anders

Batchelder

W. H.

(2012). Cultural consensus theory for multiple consensus truths. Journal of Mathematical Psychology, 56(6), 452–469. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jmp.2013.01.004

Archibald

M. M.

Ambagtsheer

R. C.

Casey

M. G.

Lawless

(2019). Using zoom videoconferencing for qualitative data collection: Perceptions and experiences of researchers and participants. International Journal of Qualitative Methods, 18, 1–8. https://doi.org/10.1177/1609406919874596

Bennardo

de Munck

V. C.

(2013). Cultural models: Genesis, methods, and experiences. Oxford University Press.

Bloom

Owen

Covington

(2003). Gender-responsive strategies: Research practice and guiding principles for women offenders. Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Justice, National Institute of Corrections.

Borgatti

S. P.

(1994). Cultural domain analysis. Journal of Quantitative Anthropology, 4(4), 261–278.

Braun

Clarke

(2006). Using thematic analysis in psychology. Qualitative Research in Psychology, 3(2), 77–101. https://doi.org/10.1191/1478088706qp063oa

Caulkins

Hyatt

S. B.

(1999). Using consensus analysis to measure cultural diversity in organizations and social movements. Field Methods, 11(1), 5–26.

10.

Collica

(2010). Surviving incarceration: Two prison-based peer programs build communities of support for female offenders. Deviant Behavior, 31(4), 314–347. https://doi.org/10.1080/01639620903004812

11.

Covington

(1998). The relational theory of women’s psychological development: Implications for the criminal justice system. In Zaplin

R. T.

(Ed.), Female offenders: Critical perspectives and effective interventions (pp. 113–131). Aspen Publishers.

12.

Crewe

Hulley

Wright

(2017). The gendered pains of life imprisonment. The British Journal of Criminology, 57 (6), 1359–1378. https://doi.org/10.1093/bjc/azw088

13.

Cronbach

L. J.

(1951). Coefficient alpha and the internal structure of tests. Psychometrika, 16, 297–334. https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02310555

14.

D’Andrade

R. G.

(1995). The development of cognitive anthropology. Cambridge University Press.

15.

Dressler

W. W.

(2018). Culture and the individual: Theory and method of cultural consonance. Routledge.

16.

Dressler

W. W.

Balieiro

M. C.

dos Santos

J. E.

(2018). What you know, what you do, and how you feel: Cultural competence, cultural consonance, and psychological distress. Frontiers in Psychology, 8, 2355. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2017.02355

17.

Edmondson

A. C.

(2018). The fearless organization. John Wiley & Sons.

18.

Fuhse

J. A.

(2009). The meaning structure of social networks. Sociological Theory, 27(1), 51–73. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-9558.2009.00338.x

19.

Fuhse

J. A.

Gondal

(2024). Networks from culture: Mechanisms of tie-formation follow institutionalized rules in social fields. Social Networks, 77, 43–54. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.socnet.2021.12.005

20.

Giallombardo

(1966). Society of women: A study of a woman’s prison. Wiley.

21.

Harding

D. J.

(2011). Rethinking the cultural context of schooling decisions in disadvantaged neighborhoods: From deviant subculture to cultural heterogeneity. Sociology of Education, 84(4), 322–339.

22.

Haverkate

D. L.

Meyers

T. J.

Telep

C. W.

Wright

K. A.

(2020). On PAR with the yard: Participatory action research to advance knowledge in corrections. Corrections, 5(1), 28–43. https://doi.org/10.1080/23774657.2019.1576149

23.

Heffernan

(1972). Making it in prison: The square, the cool, and the life. John Wiley and Sons.

24.

Heimer

Malone

S. E.

De Coster

(2023). Trends in women’s incarceration rates in US prisons and jails: A tale of inequalities. Annual Review Criminology, 6, 85–106. https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev-criminol-030421-041559

25.

Henderson

N. L.

Monocello

L. T.

Else

R. J.

Dressler

W. W.

(2022). Modeling culture: A framework. Ethos, 50(2), 111–130. https://doi.org/10.1111/etho.12348

26.

Howlett

(2021). Looking at the “field” through a Zoom lens: Methodological reflections on conducting online research during a global pandemic. Qualitative Research, 22(3), 387–402. https://doi.org/10.1177/1468794120985691

27.

Jacobs

B. A.

Wright

(1999). Stick-up, street culture, and offender motivation. Criminology, 37(1), 149–174. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1745-9125.1999.tb00482.x

28.

Kerman

(2010). Orange is the new black: My year in a women’s prison. Spiegel & Grau.

29.

Kreager

D. A.

Kruttschnitt

(2018). Inmate society in the era of mass incarceration. Annual Review of Criminology, 1, 261–283. https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev-criminol-032317-092339

30.

Kreager

D. A.

Young

J. T. N.

Haynie

D. L.

Schaefer

D. R.

Bouchard

Davidson

K. M.

(2021). In the eye of the beholder: Meaning and structure of informal status in women’s and men’s prisons. Criminology, 59(2), 42–72. https://doi.org/10.1111/1745-9125.12266

31.

Liang

Tracy

Taylor

C. A.

Williams

L. M.

Jordan

J. V.

Miller

J. B.

(2002). The relational health indices: A study of women’s relationships. Psychology of Women Quarterly, 26(1), 25–35. https://doi.org/10.1111/1471-6402.00040

32.

Lindegaard

M. R.

Miller

Reynald

D. M.

(2013). Transitory mobility, cultural heterogeneity, and victimization risk among young men of color. Criminology, 51(4), 967–1008. https://doi.org/10.1111/1745-9125.12017

33.

Messner

S. F.

Rosenfeld

(2013). Crime and the American dream (5th ed.). Wadsworth Cengage Learning.

34.

Owen

(1998). In the mix: Struggle and survival in a women’s prison. SUNY Press.

35.

Owen

Wells

Pollock

(2017). In search of safety: Confronting inequality in women’s imprisonment. University of California Press.

36.

Pollock

J. M.

(2002). Parenting programs in women’s prisons. Women & Criminal Justice, 14, 131–154.

37.

Rafter

(1990). Partial justice: Women, prisons, and social control (2nd ed.). Routledge.

38.

Selling

L. S.

(1931). The pseudo family. American Journal of Sociology, 37(2), 247–253. https://doi.org/10.1086/215423

39.

Stewart

E. A.

Simons

R. L.

(2010). Race, code of the street, and violent delinquency. Criminology, 48(2), 569–605. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1745-9125.2010.00196.x

40.

Terrill

Paoline

E. A.

Manning

P. K.

(2003). Police culture and coercion. Criminology, 41(4), 1003–1034. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1745-9125.2003.tb01011.x

41.

Ward

D. A.

Kassebaum

G. G.

(1965). Women’s prison: Sex and social structure. Aldine Publishing Company.

42.

Wright

K. A.

Young

J. T. N.

Klemm

A. N.

(2025). Who’s asking? Participatory research, interviewer effects, and the production of knowledge in a women’s prison. Journal of Experimental Criminology. Advance online publication. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11292-025-09710-8

43.

Young

J. T. N.

Haynie

D. L.

(2022). Trusting the untrustworthy: The social organization of trust among incarcerated women. Justice Quarterly, 39(3), 553–584. https://doi.org/10.1080/07418825.2020.1807588

44.

Young

J. T. N.

Meyers

T. J.

Morse

S. J.

(2023). What is “prison culture”? Developing a theoretical and methodological foundation for understanding cultural schema in prison. Criminology, 61(3), 421–448. https://doi.org/10.1111/1745-9125.12335

Supplementary Material

Please find the following supplemental material available below.

For Open Access articles published under a Creative Commons License, all supplemental material carries the same license as the article it is associated with.

For non-Open Access articles published, all supplemental material carries a non-exclusive license, and permission requests for re-use of supplemental material or any part of supplemental material shall be sent directly to the copyright owner as specified in the copyright notice associated with the article.

0.00 MB

1.00 MB