Violent Offenders, Moral Selves: Constructing Identities and Accounts in the Research Interview

Presser, Lois

doi:10.1525/sp.2004.51.1.82

Cited by 188 publications

(174 citation statements)

References 26 publications

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“…In the first part of the analysis, we present the most important differences regarding (i) motivation for drinking, (ii) amount of alcohol consumed, and (iii) context for drinking. In the second part of the analysis, we show how young adolescents used these distinctions in reflections about the future and to present a moral self (Presser 2004). They drew symbolic boundaries with adolescent drinkers, while at the same time realizing that their social identities and opinions about alcohol were in a process of change.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 96%

“…Inherent in the constructed divisions between adults and adolescents was a moral self that belonged to neither of the social categories. The presentations of such a self rely on them actively participating in symbolic boundary work (Presser 2004;Lamont & Molnar 2002 According to the young adolescents in this study, drinking something they did not like the taste of only to get drunk, was 'strange'. Thus, drinking was clearly a marker of who they were not.…”

Section: Symbolic Boundaries Against Adolescent Drinkersmentioning

confidence: 86%

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Social identity and alcohol in young adolescence: the perceived difference between youthful and adult drinking

Bakken

Sandøy

Sandberg

2017

Journal of Youth Studies

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This paper examines the evolving social identities of young adolescents in regard to alcohol and drinking culture in Norway. Detailed analysis of 29 focus group interviews and 32 individual interviews with 12-13-year-olds reveal a thorough negative attitude towards alcohol, especially when enjoyed by young people. Young adolescents found young people to be too irresponsible and immature to drink, while adults were portrayed as capable of enjoying alcohol without losing control or experiencing other negative effects. Through symbolic boundary work, they distanced themselves from adolescents who drank. The young adolescents rejected the idea that drinking alcohol was a sign of maturity; instead, they exhibited maturity by distancing themselves from drunk adolescents. We discuss how these findings reflect the participants' socio-cognitive development, and how symbolic boundaries are often drawn against those closest in social distance. We conclude that boundaries between 'adolescents' and 'adults' are fundamental when understanding emerging adolescent social identities, especially when it comes to drinking and drinking culture.

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Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 96%

Section: Symbolic Boundaries Against Adolescent Drinkersmentioning

confidence: 86%

Social identity and alcohol in young adolescence: the perceived difference between youthful and adult drinking

Bakken

Sandøy

Sandberg

2017

Journal of Youth Studies

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“…Furthermore, the qualitative interview can serve as a place where former and active offenders construct such a narrative in a reflexive way, accounting for the space-time dynamics that affect their own perception of events that have occurred in the past. These narratives not only provide contextual clarity to the research project but also provide the respondent an opportunity to incorporate her experiences into her identity, which is a dynamic central to reflexivity (Presser, 2004). This opportunity may be particularly important to former and active offenders because they are often demonized, and in the case of the incarcerated, subjected to total control, part of which is the intentional distorting of time (see, for example, Rhodes, 2004).…”

Section: Time and Narrativementioning

confidence: 99%

Space, Time, and Reflexive Interviewing: Implications for Qualitative Research with Active, Incarcerated, and Former Criminal Offenders

Downing

Polzer

Levan

2013

International Journal of Qualitative Methods

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Space and time are concepts familiar to physicists, philosophers, and social scientists; they are operationalized with varying degrees of specificity but are both heralded as important to contextualizing research and understanding individual, cultural, and historical differences in perception and the social construction of reality. Space can range from, at the macro level, geographic region, to at the micro level, the immediate physical surroundings of an individual or group of persons. Similarly, a conceptualization of time can range from era or epoch to the passing of seconds and minutes within a situational dynamic of human interaction. In this article we examine the microcosmic end of the space-time spectrum, specifically as it relates to doing qualitative interviews with current or former criminal offenders. Through a comparative discussion of interviews with incarcerated, recently released, and active offenders, we pose questions and offer insights regarding how interviewers and interviewees perceive physical space and the passage of time and, most importantly, how these perceptions relate to the interview process and resulting data. Notably, we suggest that interviewer reflexivity should take into account not only the relationship, dialogue, and discourse between interviewer and interviewee but also space and time as perceived and constructed by both parties. Finally, we offer several key strategies for incorporating these considerations into the interviewer toolkit.

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“…The first factor was men's difficulties in disclosing vulnerability (see also Daly 1993;Presser 2004). While some men did reflect openly on the challenges they faced in parenting, there was still a dominant sense that fathers were sometimes presenting an overly positive and competent face to their fathering.…”

Section: Gossamer Wall Between Researcher and Researchedmentioning

confidence: 99%

“From Her Side of the Gossamer Wall(s)”: Reflexivity and Relational Knowing

Doucet

2007

Qual Sociol

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Drawing on a provocative metaphor from an award-winning novel, this article argues that reflexivity can be conceived as three gossamer walls through which researchers construct knowledge from within three sets of relationships, including relations with: oneself (and the ghosts that haunt us); with research participants; and with one's readers, audiences, and epistemological communities. On the other side of a first gossamer wall are relations with our many selves as well as with 'ghosts,' deeply buried across time and space, that may come back to haunt us when we are physically and emotionally invested in our research. Behind a second gossamer wall are the multi-layered relations between researchers and research respondents, relationships that can involve oral, audible, physical, emotional, textual, embodied, as well as shifting theoretical and epistemological dimensions. Finally, a third gossamer wall lies between ourselves and our readers and audiences as well as the epistemological or epistemic communities wherein our work is located, read, reviewed, and received. Rooted in an ethnography of Canadian primary caregiving fathers, the article contributes to current discussions of reflexivity in qualitative research practice by expanding dominant understandings of reflexivity as a self-centered exercise towards a consideration of other critical relationships that are part of how we come to know and write about others. The metaphor of gossamer walls, combining the sheerness of gossamer and the solidity of walls, provides for creative ways of conceptualizing reflexivity in temporal and spatial terms as well as to consider the constantly shifting degrees of transparency and obscurity, connection and separation that recur in the multiple relations that constitute reflexive research and knowing.

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Violent Offenders, Moral Selves: Constructing Identities and Accounts in the Research Interview

Cited by 188 publications

References 26 publications

Social identity and alcohol in young adolescence: the perceived difference between youthful and adult drinking

Social identity and alcohol in young adolescence: the perceived difference between youthful and adult drinking

Space, Time, and Reflexive Interviewing: Implications for Qualitative Research with Active, Incarcerated, and Former Criminal Offenders

“From Her Side of the Gossamer Wall(s)”: Reflexivity and Relational Knowing

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