Globe and Mail news item: when prison feels like home

Thanks to Bill Forman for sharing this news item from the Globe & Mail. The brief anecdote is an example of being socialized into the devalued role of prisoner, so that the role eventually becomes internalized (Wolfensberger, SRV monograph, 2004, p. 27). This example touches on many elements of role theory, such as the power […]

Physiological reactions to the wounds of rejection, distantiation

This essay from the NY Times Sunday Review describes a study which pointed out one of the involuntary physiological reactions we have to being rejected, excluded, cast into societally devalued roles (such as ‘other’): namely, a drop in body temperature in our extremities (such as our fingertips). This study underscores the reality and depth of […]

slide show referencing Wolfensberger’s description of devalued roles

Online resource about prejudice and stereotypes around impairment. The slide show cites Bogdan and Biklen, Allport, as well as Wolfensberger on socially devalued roles. Tweet

Roles, expectations, segregation and Israel/Palestine

A December 2010 Time magazine article used role language and other SRV-consistent language to describe the negative long-term effects of the physical and social separation between Israelis and Palestinians brought about by the ‘Wall’: a 400 mile system of fences, barricades and military checkpoints. (I understand that the Israeli/Palestinian conflict is a long-term development with […]

Equal Justice Initiative

We recently received an annual report from the Equal Justice Initiative, an organization that primarily works with poor defendants/prisoners who have not received fair treatment in the US court and corrections systems. One of their major areas of concentration is on capital cases, i.e., death penalty cases. I want to focus in this blog post […]

Wolfensberger, deathmaking and devalued roles

From the UK, a recent blog post which mentions Dr. Wolfensberger, deathmaking and devalued roles. Apparently, the blog writer is concerned about deathmaking in relation to people in the UK with chronic fatigue syndrome. I’m not sure what to make of this connection but it is interesting that the blog writer uses Wolfensberger’s framework to […]

Discard role: 3 May 2010 cover of the New Yorker

The May 3 2010 cover of the New Yorker illustrates the discard role: it’s an image of a man in a rocking chair put out at the curb with other trash. His wife (presumably) looks on from the door of a their house. Tweet

Stanford Prison Experiment

Dr. Philip Zimbardo (who conducted the Stanford Prison Experiment) in a brief interview talking about how quickly the students in the experiment took on the roles of guard and prisoner. Tweet

Role terms are everywhere

We all hear, read, speak, use and think in role terms everyday, whether we are conscious of role theory or not. In a single recent issue in Time magazine, I counted 380 references to social roles. (OK, OK, I was a bit bored that day!) Most references were to valued roles, in domains such as […]

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