Sveinung Sandberg
ABSTRACT
In criminology even studies that involve extensive fieldworks rely a great deal on research participants own accounts. The main question raised in the paper is: how do we know if research participants are telling the truth, and does it matter? It argues that criminological ethnographers have been too preoccupied with a positivist notion of truth, and the related question of whether research participants are telling the truth. For narrative analyses, this is not really important. The paper will present interview data from offenders to illustrate the fruitfulness of a narrative approach in criminology. Whether true or false, the multitude of stories people tell reflect, and help us understand, the complex nature of values, identities, cultures, and communities. The emphasis will be on offenders’ shifts between subcultural and more conventional narratives. The argument expands upon Presser’s notion of narrative criminology. The result is a framework that further challenges positivism and individualism in contemporary criminology.