Places, Discourses and Subjectivities in Organizations: the case of a prision

Abstract

In this paper we have tried to analyze the articulation of concrete and/or symbolic elements of place(s) occupied by subjects in organization with related aspects of ways these subjects make sense about theirselves and their social relationships. In general, the research addresses the problem of production (and control) of subjectivity in organizations. The analyzed organization, a prison, was approached qualitatively through a case study based on 15 semi structured interviews which, after being recorded and transcripted, were analyzed using French discourse analysis. We have identified the places in organization place, beyond a physical reference, refers to a social construction related, simultaneously, to a formal condition, to artefacts and significations. Semi open conditions, for example, transform fragile freedom in a threat to solid “comfort” of total institution, make organization strong, and the subject, weak. To adjust to organizational context is a kind of answer to safety, something to be thankful, a kind of indoctrination which approach prisons and other organizations.