Sex Offender Archetypes: Organizing Socially Constructed Assumption about Those Who Commit Sexually-Based Offenses

• In Event: Rape Offenders – Characteristics and Archetypes

Abstract

The purpose of this paper is to establish a conceptual foundation for the subsequent discourse regarding both the philosophy and practice of social construction. First, I provide a discussion of the evolution of social construction, synthesizing the work of Berger and Luckmann (1966) with Goffman’s (1959 & 1963) texts, highlighting the development of socially constructed stigma. Next, I illustrate how the stigmatizing typificatory scheme is applied to the criminal in general and the sex offender in particular, leading to the creation of archetypes. Archetypes are broad, over-generalized assumptions that stem from the typificatory schematic and focus exclusively on fabricated assumptions. The “archetype” is commonly associated with Jungian Psychology, through which Jung provides the theoretical foundation of archetype development and application. From a Jungian perspective, the archetype is an image or set of ideas that attempts to explain or allow for summation. Storr (1983) claims, “Archetypes manifest themselves only through their ability to organize,” (p. 25). The archetype becomes a social force through its ability to constantly reenergize itself, “producing and reproducing” the fabrications (Storr, 1983 p.70). By understanding how sex offenders are constructed beneath these archetypes, we can better understand both formal and informal response to sex offenders.

Author

• Roger Lewis Schaefer, Washington State University