{"title":"Protecting Parents, Idealizing the Past, Blaming Friends: Life Stories of Men Imprisoned for Violence.","authors":"Carolina Agoff, Matias Bruno, Sveinung Sandberg","doi":"10.1177/0306624X231198802","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Life-stories emerge from a wide variety of facts and events in individual lives and weave a selected few of these together to make meaning in the present. They are crucial for constructing identity and influence action by establishing worldviews and a persona that narrators will seek to confirm. In this study we describe three main themes in the life-stories of six incarcerated men in Argentina: a) Protecting family, especially parents; b) reconstructing an ideal past, and contrasting it with a more cynical present; and c) blaming criminal neighborhoods, friends, and girlfriends for their crimes. We discuss how these themes are intertwined, what function they fulfill, and the identities and masculinities they produce. Combining research on life-stories with narrative and psychosocial criminology the analysis reveals how life-stories of incarcerated men can be seen as attempts at countering stigma and defending a self that is under attack. The life-stories portray a believable, 'good', and multifaceted image of the self, but most importantly, create coherence and unity in otherwise chaotic lives.</p>","PeriodicalId":48041,"journal":{"name":"International Journal of Offender Therapy and Comparative Criminology","volume":" ","pages":"2034-2049"},"PeriodicalIF":1.2000,"publicationDate":"2025-11-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC12446686/pdf/","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"International Journal of Offender Therapy and Comparative Criminology","FirstCategoryId":"90","ListUrlMain":"https://doi.org/10.1177/0306624X231198802","RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"2023/9/22 0:00:00","PubModel":"Epub","JCR":"Q3","JCRName":"CRIMINOLOGY & PENOLOGY","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0
Abstract
Life-stories emerge from a wide variety of facts and events in individual lives and weave a selected few of these together to make meaning in the present. They are crucial for constructing identity and influence action by establishing worldviews and a persona that narrators will seek to confirm. In this study we describe three main themes in the life-stories of six incarcerated men in Argentina: a) Protecting family, especially parents; b) reconstructing an ideal past, and contrasting it with a more cynical present; and c) blaming criminal neighborhoods, friends, and girlfriends for their crimes. We discuss how these themes are intertwined, what function they fulfill, and the identities and masculinities they produce. Combining research on life-stories with narrative and psychosocial criminology the analysis reveals how life-stories of incarcerated men can be seen as attempts at countering stigma and defending a self that is under attack. The life-stories portray a believable, 'good', and multifaceted image of the self, but most importantly, create coherence and unity in otherwise chaotic lives.
期刊介绍:
The International Journal of Press/Politics is an interdisciplinary journal for the analysis and discussion of the role of the press and politics in a globalized world. The Journal is interested in theoretical and empirical research on the linkages between the news media and political processes and actors. Special attention is given to the following subjects: the press and political institutions (e.g. the state, government, political parties, social movements, unions, interest groups, business), the politics of media coverage of social and cultural issues (e.g. race, language, health, environment, gender, nationhood, migration, labor), the dynamics and effects of political communication.