The aim of this study is to get a better understanding of the transition out of an aberrantclosed group. This thematic literature study is based on 16 articles of people leaving criminalgangs, closed religious groups, and white supremacy groups. The different articles focus onprocesses that lead people to leaving their groups or the different changes and experiencespeople went through as they left. Three themes highlight the common experiences oftransitioning out of these groups are: disillusion, the experience of loss, and the struggle withcreating a new identity. Some people experienced disillusionment with their groups whilethey were still inside the group while others' experience of disillusionment with their formergroup came after they had left it. People who left their groups often began to shift their pointof reference, whereby they started to compare themself with norms and values that existed intheir new setting, although this could take time. Their previous group's narratives sometimesweighed heavily on their minds. Some people felt as if they had gone astray after they hadleft their former groups. The disillusionment and the different losses people went throughlead some of the people into what can be described as an identity crisis. A place where somefelt not only alienated from their former group or the society that they entered but sometimesalso felt alienated from themself, a mental state of disorientation. Some people struggled withwhat can be referred to as a hangover identity. Although they tried to get rid of their previousideas and thought patterns they were still haunted by them. For some people their newidentities both helped them distance themselves from thoughts and feelings connected to theirformer identity but also helped them see themself as something else then a former member oftheir group. Others struggled to access desired roles and identity. They instead experiencedthe pains of goal failure where they were held back because of societal views of their formerroles.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:UPSALLA1/oai:DiVA.org:mau-58826 |
| Date | January 2023 |
| Creators | Larsson, Antonius |
| Publisher | Malmö universitet, Institutionen för socialt arbete (SA) |
| Source Sets | DiVA Archive at Upsalla University |
| Language | Swedish |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Student thesis, info:eu-repo/semantics/bachelorThesis, text |
| Format | application/pdf |
| Rights | info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess |
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