THE ROLE OF THE "FRINGER" IN A STATE PRISON FOR WOMEN.

Within the last two decades social anthropologists and sociologists have turned to the study of informal groups. Among the first empirical evidence of the interest were the famous Hawthorne research studies of researchers George Elton Mayo and Fritz J. Roethlisberger. Since these studies many others have been made of informal groups in community and institutional life. All of them, however, have lacked concern with individuals who are not bona fide members of cliques, but who interact with them. The focus of the paper is on these persons. In the article, they are called "fringers." The concept "fringer" should not be confused with that of the "marginal man," for the two are distinct concepts implying different categories of behavior. The "marginal man" shares the cultural life of two distinct people, whereas the "fringer" defines his own goals of behavior and disregards those of the group in favor of his own. Specifically, the paper proposes to analyze and describe the role of "fringers" in a state prison for women. Data used are from observations and personal interviews secured during the author's employment at the prison as director of religion, education and recreation from June through October 1930.