Abstract

Life in prison is dominated by a temporal regime with caustic implications for one's perception of time. Based on ethnographic research, I describe major elements of this regime: the monotony of unchanging schedules, the sensory environment of incarceration, limited resources, lack of autonomy, rigid enforcement of ubiquitous but ambiguous rules, and the absence of any future on the horizon. 

Short bio

Michael G. Flaherty is professor of sociology at Eckerd College in Saint Petersburg, Florida.  He is the author of The Textures of Time: Agency and Temporal Experience (Temple University Press, 2011) and A Watched Pot: How We Experience Time (New York University Press, 1999).  He is a deputy editor of Social Psychology Quarterly, and he serves on the editorial board of the international journal Time & Society. 

Michael G. Flaherty's project at AIAS  

What is a Fellows' Seminar?

The AIAS Fellows' Seminar is a session of seminars held by the AIAS fellow or by other speakers proposed by the fellows. In each seminar, one fellow will present and discuss his/her current research and research project, closing off with a question and discussion session.

All seminars are held in English and open to the public. Registration to the seminar is not necessary. Read more about the AIAS Fellows' Seminar here.