Believing in a Positive Future as a Form of Stigma Resistance

Narratives of Denied Expungement-Seekers

Bibliographic Data

ID2153290
AuthorsSimone Ispa-Landa (0000-0001-8856-0149, Northwestern University, corresponding author)
Year2019
Volume40
Issue11
Pages1428-1444
Publication date2019-11-02
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessNo
TypeARTICLE
VenueDeviant Behavior (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0163-9625 • E-ISSN: 1521-0456
PublisherInforma UK Limited (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1080/01639625.2019.1596550
OpenAlexW2935866040
LanguageEN
Citations received1
References cited52

A large body of work documents how people contest and refute stigmatized definitions of themselves. Yet, research that examines the role of emotion displays in stigma resistance remains sparse. To begin to fill this gap, I analyze follow-up interview data with 17 people who, because of their past felony convictions, were deemed ineligible for expungement, a court-ordered destruction of the criminal record history. Overall, participants seized on the interview setting to challenge stigmatizing definitions of themselves. There were two key ways in which this occurred. First, participants offered optimistic accounts of their future well-being. These hopeful narratives suggested that, although they were aware of how people with criminal records are devalued, they did not accept a view of themselves as damaged. Second, participants drew on emotion displays of anger with the criminal justice system to underscore that they were not deserving of the discrimination they faced. Implications for research on the sociology of stigma and emotions are discussed

Anger · CONTEST · Criminology · Narrative · Political science · Psychiatry · Resistance (ecology · Stigma (botany · Criminal Justice and Corrections Analysis · Employment and Welfare Studies · Law · Psychology · Racial and Ethnic Identity Research · Social Psychology

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