‘It’s what you have to do!’: Exploring the role of high-risk edgework and advanced marginality in a young man’s motivation for crime

By focusing on one young man’s self-presentations in a secure care unit for young offenders in Denmark, this article explores how his contradictory and incoherent self-presentations can be analysed as meaningful. Drawing on Stephen Lyng’s theory of high-risk edgework and Loïc Wacquant’s theory of ad...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published inCriminology & criminal justice Vol. 13; no. 1; pp. 99 - 115
Main Author Bengtsson, Tea Torbenfeldt
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published London, England SAGE Publications 01.02.2013
Sage Publications Ltd
Subjects
Crime
Criminal sociology
Criminology
Denmark
High risk
Juvenile offenders
Motivation
Offenders
Selfpresentation
Social relations
Young people
Youth
Denmark
Advanced marginality
crime
self-presentation
edgework
youth
Online AccessGet full text

Cover

More Information
Summary:By focusing on one young man’s self-presentations in a secure care unit for young offenders in Denmark, this article explores how his contradictory and incoherent self-presentations can be analysed as meaningful. Drawing on Stephen Lyng’s theory of high-risk edgework and Loïc Wacquant’s theory of advanced marginalization, it is argued that this young man’s engagement in youth crime cannot be fully understood by focusing only on the criminal experience itself. Also, specific social and symbolic relations must be integrated into the analysis to understand his engagement in crime. The article argues that although edgework theory is compelling, it needs further development if it is to capture the full complexity of young people’s motivation for crime.
Bibliography:ObjectType-Article-2
SourceType-Scholarly Journals-1
ObjectType-Feature-1
content type line 23
ObjectType-Article-1
ObjectType-Feature-2
ISSN:1748-8958
1748-8966
DOI:10.1177/1748895812447084