CARACTERÍSTICAS GENERALES Y PRINCIPIOS DE LA LEY DE PRESUPUESTO.

The focal points of this study will be: (1) the process in which black women are acculturated into the world o f prison employee; (2) the participants’ perception of themselves and their relationship dynamics with others within the organisation; (3) the participants’ negotiation of the organisational dynamics; (4) the mobilisation and impact of psychosocial defenses on black women.

The thesis begins in Chapter 2 with a review of three bodies o f literature. The first section of the literature review discusses prisons in the wider context of society, looking at prison reform during the last two decades, as well as the multiple tasks o f prisons. The

discussions indicate that society’s perception of prisons, their roles and the type of people who work there may create tension for employees, which can lead to anxiety and conflict between different groups o f staff.

The second body o f literature I review examines the two main prison staff groups: operational and non-operational. By describing the status and structural location of different staff groups, this will provide an insight into the relational dynamics between the groups. The discussion aims to set the foundation for later explorations into the way in which gender and racial difference affects the relational dynamics between different groups o f staff.

The third body o f literature scrutinises prominent British prison occupational literature. I discuss the approach taken by these scholars who tend to ascribe simple categories of gender - male/female or race - black/white to their participants. I first want to

demonstrate how the unique experience o f black women as gendered and raced

employees is missing from these studies and, as a consequence, how stereotypical images of prison employees are portrayed. I also want to show how these stereotypes influence the way black women prison employees are seen and treated, thus showing how

stereotypes are in fact active elements of prison life. This exemplifies the experience and axiomatic image o f a white male prison officer and leads to tension and disruption when an employee who does not ‘fit’ the axiomatic image o f prison employee enters the organisation. By focusing on the experience o f black women, an understanding o f how gender and race creates a unique psychosocial experience for this group o f employees will be gained.

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Chapter 3 provides an account of the epistemological and methodological stance o f this research. I employ interview methods to document the participants’ voice and experience in the British Prison Service context. I also explain how I applied an ‘ethnographic eye’ to visualise and imagine the situations participants described. In addition, I used

secondary resources to support my analytical claims when analysing participants’ accounts. This chapter provides a detailed description of the process o f selecting participants, as well as presenting and discussing my material and process o f analysis. I also discuss the limitations o f the thesis.

Chapters 4 and 5 discuss the central concepts of the thesis. In chapter 4 I present the theoretical framework and provide an overview o f intersectionality and standpoint theory. I briefly present the historical emergence of these concepts and thereafter describe the role of both theories in this thesis. I then outline the second theoretical framework which underpins this thesis. I describe the genesis of organisational psychodynamics, a

psychoanalytically informed set o f theories, with a strong orientation towards the ideas of David Armstrong (2005), Isabel Menzies-Lyth (1988), Wilfred Bion (1961) and Melanie Klein (1932, 1946). I conclude the theory chapters by discussing the importance o f combining intersectionality and organisational psychodynamics to gain a deeper

understanding o f the psychosocial experience of black women Prison Service employees.

The data chapters integrate intersectionality theory and organisational psychodynamics into a single conceptual framework, which aims to illustrate how the inner psychological

world o f individuals relates to the organisational systems in which they are working (Miller, 1993), and, more specifically, how the emotional needs o f individuals and groups shape, and are shaped, by the processes, structures, and culture o f the social systems in which those individuals and groups are situated (Petriglieri and Petriglieri, 2010; Krantz, 2001; Miller, 1989).

In Chapter 6 , 1 examine prison culture. I start my analysis o f the data from the position that prison environments have a complex culture with distinctive practices, procedures and traditions which are drawn out from the narratives o f three participants, Trina and Rosa, both prison officers, and Raisa, a teacher. Each participant’s story provides an insight into an aspect o f prison culture which I assert is made up o f three distinctive elements: suspicion, mistrust and violence. I explore how these elements form part o f the social structure and how they act as social defenses to protect against the anxiety

produced in response to gender and racial difference.

In Chapter 7 I examine extracts from Rosa, a prison officer, and Ella, a Temporary Senior Prison Officer (TSPO). I focus on a specific period in their prison career: their transition from Prison Officer Entry Level Training (POELT) to prison officer. I introduce the notion o f carceral space (defined in detail in Chapter 7) to analyse Rosa’s time at the POELT residential college. I then focus on one specific aspect o f prison practice - control and restraint (C&R) - to look at how the participants engage and perceive this particular practice from the position of gendered-racialised subjects.

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In Chapter 8 I focus on the story o f Lisa, a Diversity Manager. I apply Ronald Britton’s (2004) notion o f ‘triangulation’ to explore the interrelationship between Lisa and her two white female senior managers. I focus specifically on how racialised, gendered, seniority and organisational dynamics construct a specific identity and organisational positioning for this participant.

In Chapter 9 I show how the undercurrent of racial and gender difference is prominent when Loma White is employed as a senior manager at Songhai Empire. I examine her account of an incident which involved her and a group of senior managers through an organisational psychodynamic lens, drawing specifically on Wilfred Bion’s (1961) theory o f groups. .

In Chapter 10 I present my theoretical contribution by introducing the notion o f ‘Strong Black Woman’ (SB W), a concept in which I bring together the social aspect of the term, that is, that SBW is a social construct derived from a distinct cultural history with specific characteristic traits with organisational psychodynamics, to illustrate how the SBW ideology acts as a defense mechanism applied by black women to overcome adversity and challenges within a specific occupational space.

Chapter 11 explores issues in relation to being a black female researcher-practitioner. I reflect on my multiple identities and their impact on the fieldwork, the dilemmas which occurred, and the challenge o f writing a black feminist research thesis part-time.

I conclude the thesis with a discussion about my study and findings, showing how this perspective adds to current prison occupational literature. I also demonstrate the originality o f my approach in understanding the experience o f gendered and racialised subjects, and show that rich sources o f data can be collected when a researcher combines two distinctive theoretical frameworks such as intersectionality and organisational psychodynamics theory. In particular, I discuss how this framework may help us develop an appreciation o f the relational dynamics which occur as a result o f gender and race, as well as the impact of the unconscious which affects organisational psychodynamics within the British Prison Service. I also complete a final review by discussing the themes from the data chapter and end by suggesting areas for further research.

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