Thomas Mathiesen

Who is Thomas Mathiesen?

Thomas Mathiesen is a Norwegian sociologist.

Mathiesen studied sociology at the University of Wisconsin. He graduated as M.A. in 1958 from the University of Oslo, where he did his doctorate in 1965. In 1972 he was appointed Professor of sociology of law at the Faculty of Law, University of Oslo.

He was a visiting professor at the University of California in Santa Barbara and Berkeley, the University of Tromsø, also the University of Warsaw and the University of Bremen.

Together with Nils Christie and Louk Hulsman he is a distinguished representative of the prison abolition movement. He writes in Norwegian and English, his books were translated into Swedish, Danish, German, Italian and Spanish and published in China.

Mathiesen was one of the inspirers of the British prisoners movement, Preservation of the Rights of Prisoners and even spoke at their foundation meeting.

Mathiesen also presented a paper at the eleventh symposium of the National Deviancy Conference in September 1972 entitled 'Strategies of Resistance within a Total Institution'.