Cultural Prison

John M. Sloop is Professor and Chair-elect of the Department of Communication Studies and Theatre at Vanderbilt University and author of Disciplining Gender: Rhetarics of Sex Identity in Contemporary U.S. Culture.

In an age when surveillance technologies such as video monitors transform homes into 'virtual prisons,' public perception of prisoners, punishment, and the American penal system create a 'cultural prison' that disciplines the body politic. Sloop's provocative study of the relationship between discourse and punishment locates the infrastructure of this virtual and cultural space within the rhetorical context of popular culture. Spanning nearly 50 years of discourse on prisoners, The Cultural Prison skillfully demonstrates how fixed gender and racial constructions position prisoners as either essentially redeemable or criminal.... [This book] presents a compelling and exhaustive account of how the American public relies on popular journals to understand the meaning and implications of discipline for prisoners."" - Crime, Law & Social Change ""Sloop's book is beautifully written and well argued. While tightly focused on prisoners, Sloop's analysis has important implications for critical rhetoricians who are faced with the daunting task of continuing to chip away at the tightly woven, interconnected discourses of domination."" - Quarterly Journal of Speech