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Moral identity in action: Young offenders' reports of encounters with the police
Author(s) -
Kerby Joanne,
Rae John
Publication year - 1998
Publication title -
british journal of social psychology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.855
H-Index - 98
eISSN - 2044-8309
pISSN - 0144-6665
DOI - 10.1111/j.2044-8309.1998.tb01183.x
Subject(s) - psychology , social psychology , conversation , identity (music) , reflexivity , action (physics) , social identity theory , moral disengagement , moral reasoning , criminology , sociology , social group , communication , social science , physics , quantum mechanics , acoustics
Conversation is a site where social identities are achieved and negotiated (see for example Widdicombe & Wooffitt, 1995). We examine some ‘young offenders” reports of encounters with the police and analyse the identities and categorizations which are used or occasioned. Rather than looking for evidence of some kind of failure of moral reasoning we show that these reports involve detailed analyses of social situations. In particular we note that they contain reflexive analyses of how the speakers' moral identity is visible to the police, and that this serves as a resource to analyse the moral identity of the police.