Thesis advisor: Stephen Pfohl / Thesis advisor: David Karp / This work uses the method of autoethnography to explore and present the story of one family's struggle with the incarceration of the primary wage earner. This thesis was structured around major defining moments or events in my “career” as the daughter of a white-collar criminal, and the ways in which my identity has shifted as a result of my experience. Each chapter outlines a specific milestone or experience along my career path--from learning of my father's arrest, to visiting him in prison two years later. This thesis presents the contagious spread of shame and “guilt by association” with my father’s alleged “deviance” is outlined, and illustrates the ways in which the experience of incarceration can function as a form of collective punishment for every member of the family. Borrowing from Goffman’s dramaturgical model of interaction, (Goffman, 1959) this paper is heavily influenced by the notion of what happens to actors when their roles are suddenly and drastically altered? How do these actors cope with the change within themselves—how they conceptualize their identity, how they interact with their previous environment or stage, and how they interact with other actors. The change in identity that comes from the arrest and subsequent incarceration of a family member is a long and daunting process, and this paper attempts to catalogue the tumultuous journey towards self-understanding and self-acceptance after this major shift in status. / Thesis (BA) — Boston College, 2012. / Submitted to: Boston College. College of Arts and Sciences. / Discipline: Sociology Honors Program. / Discipline: Sociology.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:BOSTON/oai:dlib.bc.edu:bc-ir_102072 |
| Date | January 2012 |
| Creators | Drimal, Alexandra Villamia |
| Publisher | Boston College |
| Source Sets | Boston College |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Text, thesis |
| Format | electronic, application/pdf |
| Rights | Copyright is held by the author, with all rights reserved, unless otherwise noted. |
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