ABSTRACT
This
study is carried out to understand the social prison and social prisoner
phenomenon in Pakistan. The concept of social prison has been analyzed in terms
of Material Acquisitions (M.A), Social Status Quo (S.S.Q), Social Envy (S.E)
and Social Rituals (S.R). The researchers assert the notion of social prison
through this study and argue that, individuals are living in the 21st century a life of a social prisoner because, they
constantly dwell in a state of ever-lasting quest for material acquisitions, maintaining
social status quo, becoming victim of social envy (knowingly
or unknowingly) and social rituals. The study is conducted quantitatively and
it is based on post-positivist philosophy. However, the sample size is only
170+ respondents and the convenience sampling technique is used because, this
is the kind of research, that is peculiar in nature so, only those respondents
are added doing the job presently. The researcher found weak relationship
between each of the independent variables (M.A, S.S.Q, S.E and S.R) and the
dependent variable (Social prisoner phenomenon in Pakistan). Consequently, it
was found in the end that, there is a moderate relationship between social prison’s
elements and social prisoner phenomenon in Pakistan. So, it can be asserted
with some certainty that, individuals of the 21st century do live in a kind of prison called “Social
Prison” hence; they can be termed as “Social Prisoners”.