Biographical dynamics of moral positionings in processes of social reintegration

Abstract

Morally distancing oneself from others is a common reaction when being allocated in the vicinity of stigmatized groups such as drug users by external attributions. The present article will examine this well-known research finding, which has so far only been examined in a cross-sectional manner, in greater depth on the basis of a theory-oriented case reconstruction of four longitudinal interviews with a man convicted of drug offences. In the course of time, changing social contexts generate specific morally based narrative positionings of dissociation and association. The main lines of moral differentiation are work orientation, everyday life, control of drug use, and criminality. The narrative positionings refer to conflicts of recognition and status that are challenged in specific ways in the various phases and in some cases come to a head. It appears that the particular experiences of involvement in institutions of help and control play a significant role here. Detachment from these institutions, especially through integration into employment, settles the narrative dissociation from stigmatized groups and produces new lines of moral differentiation.