Samenvatting

Male inmate subcultures can be described as highly gendered settings where power relationships are based on a hierarchical gender order. Cultural idealized forms of masculinity provide an important foundation for these hierarchical rankings. Notions of hegemonic and subordinate masculinities offer a valuable theoretical framework for explaining the power relations and pecking order among male inmates. Drawing on observations and qualitative semi-structured interviews with prisoners in a medium-size Belgian male prison, this article analyses the various intermale dominance hierarchies among inmates and the discourses in which they are embedded: type of offence, social conduct, individual characteristics of the prisoners and the possession of different forms of capital. This article both stresses and nuances the importance of offence categories by explaining how hierarchical status can be enhanced through social performance and acting in accordance with the prison code. Additionally, it describes how hierarchical arrangements operate in the daily practice of prison life through spatial norms.