Expanding the Concept of a “Good Job” to Understand Desistance Processes

• In Event: Examining the Impact of Job Skills, Work, and Financial Independence on Offending Outcomes

Abstract

In this paper we offer a framework that enables us to systematically evaluate drug dealing (or indeed any other criminal enterprise) by the standards used to evaluate the quality of regular work. In doing so we try to further develop the notion of a “good job” often discussed in life course criminology as key to understanding the desistance process. The criteria encompass several key attributes/elements that were identified in a range of literatures from the study of workplace satisfaction/productivity to the psychological literature on fundamental human needs. These attributes include: pay, autonomy, status, satisfaction, security, career-commitment, and associated irritations. Using economic, interview and observational data collected via a six-year ethnography of twenty-five ‘middle-class’ drug dealers and traffickers, we argue that monetary returns are just one element of what constitutes “good work” and that the subjective experiences of drug dealing appear to be more important. We find that, although financially lucrative in our sample, drug dealing garners few substantive returns when using the proposed criteria.

Authors

• Juanjo Medina, University of Manchester

• Mike Salinas-Edwards, Manchester Metropolitan University