1.

Record Nr.

UNINA9910960166503321

Autore

Presser Lois

Titolo

Been a heavy life : stories of violent men / / Lois Presser

Pubbl/distr/stampa

Urbana, : University of Illinois Press, c2008

ISBN

9786613895615

9781283583169

128358316X

9780252092183

025209218X

Edizione

[1st ed.]

Descrizione fisica

1 online resource (202 p.)

Collana

Critical perspectives in criminology

Disciplina

305.38/962

Soggetti

Violence in men

Abusive men

Criminal behavior

Lingua di pubblicazione

Inglese

Formato

Materiale a stampa

Livello bibliografico

Monografia

Note generali

Description based upon print version of record.

Nota di bibliografia

Includes bibliographical references (p. [161]-178) and index.

Nota di contenuto

Self and story -- Offender identities, offender narratives -- Thinking about research effects -- Research methods when research is being researched -- Reform narratives : return of the good self -- Stability narratives : never a bad self -- Elastic narratives : creative integration -- Tales of heroic struggle -- The situated construction of narratives -- The power of stories.

Sommario/riassunto

In this groundbreaking work, Lois Presser investigates the life stories of men who have perpetrated violence. She applies insights from across the academy to in-depth interviews with men who shared their accounts of how they became the people we most fear--those who rape, murder, assault, and rob, often repeatedly. Been a Heavy Life provides the discipline of criminology with two crucial frameworks: one for critically evaluating the construction of offenders' own stories, and one for grasping the cultural meta-narratives that legitimize violence. For social scientists generally, this book offers a vivid demonstration of just how dynamic and contingent self-narratives are.