Transcript Major identity transformations - movements beyond criminal

MAJOR IDENTITY TRANSFORMATIONS
- MOVEMENTS BEYOND CRIMINAL LIFE
AND BIKER GANG ENVIRONMENT
LINE LERCHE MØRCK & ”PETER”
30.3.15, JOURNAL OF YOUTH STUDY CONFERENCE
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CONFIDENTIALITY AND ETHICAL CHALLENGES
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”Peter” is a cover name – used for our security and protection, because research from a
position as former biker gang member can be dangerous
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Please keep sensitive issues as confidential
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CONTENT
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2)
3)
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Social practice theory and moment-movement
ethnography
Analysis: Selected moments: Sp(l)itting on the
street
Collective movements partiel transcending
dilemmas, producing recognition, as processes of
objectivations and reification
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OVERALL FOCUS OF INTEREST AND DISCUSSIONS
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Researching major identity transformations, as continuity
and change in conduct of life, conflictual processes of
belonging, recognition, and struggles of marginalization –
expansive learning in and across different contexts and
communities
Producing prototypical narratives – and changing the world
(Nissen 2014)
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SIMILARITIES AND DIFFERENCES TO CARLSSONS LIFE STORY
STUDY OF MASCULINITY AND DESISTANCE (2012)
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"ways of “being a man” and doing masculinity at any given time in a man’s life
[..] are tied to specific phases of the life course." (Carlsson, 2012, p. 265)
“drawing our attention to the contingencies of work and family life, has failed to
spot the gendered nature of men’s places within these spheres,” and analyses of
those institutions, thus, often have been devoid of the deep “complexity of
meaning” they may have for offenders (Carlsson, 2012, p. 666).
Positioned as learning science and educational psychology - desistence from
crime is not our main focus – a difference to life course criminology
Our focus is on moments in the present 10 month of exit period – analysis in
depth – in relation to movements (identity transformation – partly transcending
marginalization), and not on life history. (Mørck & Hansen, in press, 2015)
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RECOGNITION AND INTERPELLATION AS
PART OF A COMMUNITY
“Interpellation is when the subject recognizes herself as
recognized in this unique but universal identity, and with this
responsibility given as meaningfulness defined in the ideology”
(Nissen, 2012, p. 193)
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OUR MOMENT-MOVEMENT METHODOLOGY
studying significant moments in depth
 It is moments of frustration, anger, passions, telos or
desire and hopes for a possible future - and action
reasons
 Using social technologies such as audio and video
logs, biographical documentaries and life story
presentations to reflect identity change.
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OUR EMPIRICAL MATERIAL FROM 10 MONTH
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2 interviews
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29 Audio-logs and 28 video-logs
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E-mail correspondances between Line and Peter
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Sms correspondances
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7 presentations
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3 mini documentaries producered with Fryshuset Danmark (not publiched)
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Field notes
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Letters
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PETERS REFLECTIVE WORK
putting the old “biker gang member-self” "in a box".
 Peter normally opposes the idea of categorizing
people, but in the logs it helps him to work
consciously with subdividing himself into two selves
in order to become less of a biker gang member.
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HOPE, DESIRE, TELOS AND CONCERNS IN THE
CONDUCT OF EVERYDAY LIFE
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Through the continuous reflexive work, he hopes to be able
to avoid reproducing the old "biker gang member-self",
thereby becoming more of his new self as "Peter", who acts
reflexive and more neutral in situations that can be
conflictual.
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LOG: 27/10/2014: "SP(L)ITTING ON THE STREET“ (1)
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"I've just backed out the car and I’m about to drive off, when three young guys is
walking by. One of them is an immigrant with an attitude that I immediately
recognize from the gangs. They all look like lads about 18-20 years old, and I
assume that they are working in [area], where marijuana is being sold. One of
them, the immigrant, the guy with the biggest attitude, the alpha-male of their
small group, is looking at me, keeping eye contact, then looks away and spits
pretentiously on the ground in front of the car. [Peter's wife Christine] looks at me
immediately, and I know ... pause and sigh. I then look at [Christine] and says to
her, "Wow, imagine if that had happened a year ago." My usual behavior would
have been to put the car in park, jump out, walk to him, punch him in the face
and completely smash his friends. [..]
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LOG: 27/10/2014: "SP(L)ITTING ON THE STREET“ (2)
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However, I’m not doing that today. While they are passing,
I’m saying to [Christine], that I have to admit, that I have a lot
of conflictual thoughts right now, to which she replies:" I’m
not going to think less of you, if you do not act on it". And
that got to me a bit. Because I cannot help thinking, that by
bringing it up, it might be exactly what she is going to do
(think less of me). Why else would she think of it in the first
place? I choose not to do anything, and I do not feel the
urge to either, to be honest. [..]
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LOG: 27/10/2014: "SP(L)ITTING ON THE STREET“ (3)
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Later I’m meeting up a guy named [Morten], at the gym [he
is an old ex-biker, who has also left the same gang]. We
work out at the same place. I mention the situation to him,
and he says: "Oh - and so they got smashed" and I answer
no, actually they did not. "Well what did you do?" I did not
really do anything. Oh - you didn’t do anything at all. No I
sure as hell didn’t. Well they should have gotten their faces
punched in.
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LOG: 27/10/2014: "SP(L)ITTING ON THE STREET“ (4)
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And during this whole time his girlfriend is standing next to him, observing the
conversation between [Morten] and me. I was [in a leading position to Morten]
before, so I know very well what I would have expected and what would have
happened in the past, so I try to tell him that if I had wanted to do it, it wouldn’t
have been a problem. Because that's how I've handled the situations in my
adult life, so I'm used to it. Only it would mean taking a path that would lead me
somewhere else, than where my goal is. Be he doesn’t understand. And at that
point, when I sense that I can’t make him understand and I sense that he is
thinking whether I’ve gone soft, I say: "it might have to do with the fact [Morten]
that they are so young, had it been someone your age, who acted this way,
then I would have crushed his face with a dumbell at once”.
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3. RECOGNITION, OBJECTIFICATIONS AND REIFICATIONS
How do collective processes of recognition and reification
help about major personal changes, in the process of
becoming more of something and less of other things?
How do objectivications and reifications processes as part of
our common production of documentaries, articles and
presentations influence Peters processes of changed social
self-understanding , and (partly) expanding Peters scope of
possibilities in life?
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The action possibilities and movements beyond
marginalization contains elements of
objectification (Nissen, 2012) and reification
(Wenger, 2004), that provides the movements
beyond marginalization with extra power and
importance.
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"This whole thing, to be involved in different projects, it gives
me the feeling of small success – the affirmation that I
actually have something they can use. That I have
something to offer in this unknown area, in which my new
life is going to take form. And I feel that small successes
creates several small successes. So it works really well. And
now I will try to actively seek out more opportunities to
engage in more projects. "(Log, 05/06/14)
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LOG AFTER JEAN LAVE’S WORKSHOP
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"I am told that I am contributing. At the point I am currently
at, I really have no idea of what I'm doing. I am surrounded
by all these highly educated academics and I am messing
about, but I am told that what I bring to the table is
contributing and that makes me happy. Because in the
meantime it helps me, that I feel that I am in fact
contributing with something. "(The biography documentary
'The lived ethics')
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SUBJECTIFICATION AND OBJECTIFICATION PROCESSES AS
PART OF RECOGNITION (NISSEN)
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“Recognition establishes a special kind of "suspense", thus
recognition includes the power to define the other as a
subject in ways where the very meaning only becomes
evident later on behalf of the collective, which is about to
arise.” (Nissen, 2012, p. 170-171).
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WE ARE LEARNING WHAT WE ARE ALREADY DOING
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“We are creating a community of practice, Line and me. We are in the process
of creating something new. For me to create something and being part of a
collective process [..] I reflect how it affects me. Because this community of
practice allows me to orient myself towards the new collective instead of my old
community. And sometimes when I just don’t know what to do, then I have this
goal in the horizon that I would like to reach – and that makes me focus on what
I should do for now in this context. "('The lived ethics ')
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NOT JUST NARRATIVES, WE ARE ALSO ENGAGED IN
PRODUCING CHANGE
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”Note to myself. The next time I will open by explaining that
I personally have some unfortunate experiences with the
Exit programme, and how this has influenced me
negatively. The representatives from the established system
are being very defensive. I want to remain authentic, but I’m
considering how I’ll be able to make them listen, so they can
implement the critique for the better. [..] I refuse to be a lap
dog, but I should perhaps put more focus on the possibilities
for development.(Logs d. 26.11.14)
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REFERENCES
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Carlsson, C. (2012). Masculinities, Persistence, and Desistance, Criminology, 51/3: 661-693.
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Holzkamp, K. (2013). Psychology: Social Self-understanding on the Reasons for Action in
the Conduct of Everyday Life. In E. Schraube & U. Osterkamp (Eds.), Psychology from the
standpoint of the Subject. Selected Writings of Klaus Holzkamp (pp. 233-341). Basingstoke:
Palgrave Macmillan.
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Hybholt, L. & Mørck, L. L. (2015, in press). Conduct of everyday life and social selfunderstanding after depression. Theorising beyond the duality of meaningful versus
routines. International Society Theoretical Psychology, 2013 proceedings volume
contribution.
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Mørck & Hansen (2015, in press.) Fra rocker til akademiker. Psyke & Logos.
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REFERENCES
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Mørck, L. L. (2014). “Learning to live”. Expansive learning and mo(ve)ments beyond “gang
exit”. Full paper, 11th International Conference of the Learning Sciences (ICLS), Boulder,
Colorado, USA, 23-27 Juni, 2014.
http://pure.au.dk//portal/files/73582372/Learning_to_live_ISCL_Morck_2014final.pdf
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Mørck, L. L. (2015, in press). Alternativer til ’bande-exit’ – At “lære at leve” et nyt liv.
Rosendahl & Dorf: Lærebog i pædagogisk sociologi, Aarhus Universitetsforlag. Udkommer
i 2015.
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Nissen, M. (2012). The Subjectivity of Participation. Articulating social work practice with
youth in Copenhagen. Hampshire: Palgrave Macmillan.
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Wenger, E. (1998). Communities of Practice. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
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