A new beginning. A qualitative life course study of desistance and work in the shadow of Bourdieu.

• In Event: EDLC: desistance

Abstract

This presentation from a doctoral thesis deals with convicts, desistance and the meaning of work. The study contributes to gain more knowledge about the importance of work and a work-oriented measure for convicts. This program is called Ny Start (New beginnings) and all the respondents have participated. Inspired by the Liverpool desistance study (Maruan, 2001), I have recruited a group that has managed to break the pattern of recidivism and a group that has not yet managed to do so. After data from 47 interviews have been analyzed, I have located and will present patterns from three life trajectories.
The first path is the Phoenix. This is the heavily addicted person who has lived within an all-consuming drug field for many years. Here, crime is related to the addiction that has developed. A path that is well represented in the existing desistance literature. The second path is the Dualist, who has interacted between illegal and legitimate fields. The Dualist has worked in two or more fields simultaneously or alternated between different fields for periods. They have not been trapped in an all-consuming field for many years. The third path is Janus. A rational calculation of profit maximization characterizes Janus' life and crime. In this pathway, some respondents have had full-time jobs and families while at the same time being highly ranked drug dealers.
These patterns and trajectories capture the life that has been lived, the desistance process and the role that can be given to work. The process for Phoenix is best described with Bourdieu's term "the second birth". The Dualist's process is characterized by "hooks for change", and Janus' process is further characterized by being a rational process where the individual puts forward; "Now I had earned enough", or now the" danger of being caught again", was too risky.

Author

• Rune Olsen, University of Agder, Norway