Abstract
In this chapter, we first define counter-narratives as a theoretical construct. We argue that counter-narratives are uniquely distinguished by an illocutionary force intended to challenge background assumptions supporting an intertextually related alternative narrative. However, whether narratives are ‘mastering’ or ‘countering’ is not to be determined on universal grounds, but contingent upon the structure of social, cultural, and political power of interactive and contextual conditions. Next, we detail the narrative practice approach (Bamberg 2020) and exemplify it with an analysis of two opposing closing arguments of a defense lawyer and a district attorney for a murder case. Analyzing the two statements as narratives (small stories) helps us to reveal two alternative positioning strategies—one identifiable as aligning with the master narrative of care, the other of justice (cf. Gilligan 1980). In our concluding section, we make use of these two positioning strategies to demonstrate the power of the master narrative of justice for the construction of a criminal identity, and the problems this poses for counter-narratives that facilitate the social reintegration of offenders and lowering rates of re-offending.
Keywords
- Counter-narratives
- Master narratives
- Positioning
- Narrative practice
- Criminology
This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution.
Buying options
Notes
- 1.
The reasons for why we refer to these statements or arguments as narratives are laid out in more detail in Bamberg and Wipff (2020), and touched upon in our opening paragraphs.
- 2.
Third-person stories, i.e., stories that thematize the actions of others, typically are precluded from narrative research, because they arguably don’t give insight into first-person experiences. However, as we have argued repeatedly, third-person narratives are as worthy of positioning and identity analysis as are first-person stories. Courtroom narratives are a good example.
- 3.
It should be kept in mind that we are analyzing a fictional representation for viewers that is produced through the lens of cameras. Camera angle, sequence and duration of shots and other techniques are extremely important in the production of emotion transportation (generating affective responses in the viewer)—as for instance the coinciding of a pointing gesture of the DA at one of the jury members with line 67, and, what will be viewed as the juror’s facio-affective reaction—all taken in by the viewer and bodily-affectively processed.
- 4.
We made a similar point when analyzing medical interactions between doctors, nursing staff, and researchers (cf. Bamberg 1991; Bamberg and Budwig 1992), emphasizing how caring and curing form two differing sense-making strategies (master narratives) that typically ‘sit’ side-by-side, but at certain circumstances can collide and lead to miscommunication.
- 5.
We recommend watching the ending scene of The Breakfast Club, retrieved February 14, 2020, from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sv1I4q6lOpo. Interestingly, for the German version (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_10mJG2sZqE) the character of ‘the criminal’ is dubbed ‘ein Freak.’
- 6.
These kinds of constructs reach back as far as Adler’s (1931) and other psychologists’ ruminations about ‘asocial’ personality characteristics of the criminal.
References
Adler, A. (1931). Die kriminelle Persönlichkeit und ihre Heilung. Internationale Zeitschrift für Individualpsychologie, 9, 321–329.
Bamberg, M. (1991). Voices of curing and caring: The role of vagueness and ambiguity in informed consent discussions. Family Systems Medicine, 9(4), 329–342. https://doi.org/10.1037/h0089259.
Bamberg, M. (2005). Agency. In D. Herman, M. Jahn, & M.-L Ryan (Eds.), Routledge encyclopedia of narrative theory (pp. 9–10). London: Routledge.
Bamberg, M. (2011). Narrative practice and identity navigation. In J. A. Holstein & J. F. Gubrium (Eds.), Varieties of narrative analysis (pp. 99–124). London: Sage Publications.
Bamberg, M. (2020). Narrative analysis: An integrative approach—Small stories and narrative practices. In M. Järvinen & N. Mik-Meyer (Eds.), Qualitative analysis—Eight traditions (pp. 243–264). London: Sage Publications.
Bamberg, M., & Budwig, N. (1992). Therapeutic misconceptions: When the voices of caring and research are misconstrued as the voice of curing. Ethics and Behavior, 2(3), 165–184.
Bamberg, M., & Wipff, Z. (2020). Re-considering counter narratives. In: K. Lueg & M. Wolf Lundholt (Eds.), The Routledge handbook of counternarratives (pp. 60–72). London: Routledge.
Barton, A., & Davis, H., & Scott, D. (2019). Quiet silencing: Restricting the criminological imagination in the neoliberal university. In A. Diver (Ed.), Employability via higher education: Sustainability as scholarship (pp. 525–540). https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-26342-3_34.
Bochco, S. (Writer), & Wallace, R. (Director). L.A. law. (May 17, 1990). The last gasp.
Botes, A. (2000). A comparison between the ethics of justice and the ethics of care. Journal of Advanced Nursing, 32(5), 1071–1075.
Canter, D., Rowlands, D., & Youngs, D. (in press). Criminals’ personal narratives as a form of identity. In M. Bamberg, M. Watzlawick, & C. Demuth (Eds.), The Cambridge handbook of identity. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.
Chriss, J. J. (2006). Giddings and the social mind. Journal of Classical Sociology, 6(1), 123–144.
Coates, L., & Wade, A. (2004). Telling it like it isn’t: Obscuring perpetrator responsibility for violent crime. Discourse & Society, 15(5), 499–526. https://doi.org/10.1177/0957926504045031.
Durkheim, E. (1915). The elementary forms of the religious life: A study in religious sociology. New York: Macmillan.
Georgakopoulou, A. (2020, this volume). Small stories research and narrative criminology: ‘Plotting’ an alliance. In M. Althoff, B. Dollinger, & H. Schmidt (Eds.,) Conflicting Narratives of Crime and Punishment (pp. 43–61).
Gilligan, C. (1982). In a different voice: Psychological theory and women’s development. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
Gilligan, C. (1987). Moral orientation and moral development. In E. Kittay & D. Meyers (Eds.), Women and moral theory (pp. 19–33). Totowa, NJ: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers.
Gilligan, C. (2018). Moral orientation and moral development [1987]. In Justice and care: Essential readings in feminist ethics (pp. 31–46). Taylor and Francis. https://doi.org/10.4324/9780429499463.
Hughes, J. W. (Director) (1985). The breakfast club. [Film] Universal Pictures.
Markussen, T., & Knutz, E. (2017). Playful participation in social games. Conjunctions: Transdisciplinary Journal of Cultural Participation, 4(1), 1–20. https://doi.org/10.7146/tjcp.v4i1.97728.
Maruna S. (2001). Making good: How ex-convicts reform and rebuild their lives. Washington, DC: American Psychological Association. http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/10430-000.
Maruna, S. (2016). Desistance and restorative justice: It’s now or never. Restorative Justice, 4(3), 289–301. https://doi.org/10.1080/20504721.2016.1243853.
Maruna, S., & LeBel, T. P. (2003). Welcome home? Examining the ‘reentry court’ concept from a strengths-based perspective. Western Criminology Review, 4(2), 91–107.
McAdams, D. P. (1993). The stories we live by: Personal myths and the making of the self. London: Guilford Press. ISBN 9781572301887.
Moore, M. (1999). The ethics of care and justice. Women & Politics, 20(2), 1–16, https://doi.org/10.1300/j014v20n02_01.
Presser, L., & Sandberg, S. (2015). Introduction: What is the story? In L. Presser & S. Sandberg (Eds.), Narrative criminology: Understanding stories of crime (pp. 1–20). New York: New York University Press.
Sandberg, S. (2009). A narrative search for respect. Deviant Behaviour, 30(6), 487–510. https://doi.org/10.1080/01639620802296394.
Sandberg, S., & Andersen, J. C. (2019). Opposing violent extremism through counternarratives: Four forms of narrative resistance. In J. Fleetwood, L. Presser, S. Sandberg & T. Ugelvik (Eds.), The emerald handbook of narrative criminology (pp. 445–466). Bingley, UK: Emerald Publishing. https://doi.org/10.1108/978-1-78769-005-920191036.
Searle, J. R. (1994). Literary theory and its discontents. New Literary History, 25(3), 637–667.
Searle, J. R. (2010). Making the social world: The structure of human civilization. Oxford: University Press.
Sykes, G. M, & Matza, D. (1957). Techniques of neutralization: A theory of delinquency. American Sociological Review, 22(6), 664–670.
Wickramagamage, C., & Miller, J. (2019). Stories that are skyscraper tall: The place of ‘tall tales’ in narrative criminology In J. Fleetwood, L. Presser, S. Sandberg & T. Ugelvik (Eds.), The Emerald handbook of narrative criminology (pp. 109–128). Bingley, UK: Emerald Publishing. https://doi.org/10.1108/978-1-78769-005-920191013.
Wright, R. (2014). Identities, education and reentry (Pt. 1 of 2): Identities and performative spaces. Journal of Prison Education and Reentry, 1(1), 32–41. https://doi.org/10.15845/jper.v1i1.609.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2020 The Author(s)
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Bamberg, M., Wipff, Z. (2020). Counter-Narratives of Crime and Punishment. In: Althoff, M., Dollinger, B., Schmidt, H. (eds) Conflicting Narratives of Crime and Punishment. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-47236-8_2
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-47236-8_2
Published:
Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-030-47235-1
Online ISBN: 978-3-030-47236-8
eBook Packages: Law and CriminologyLaw and Criminology (R0)