Year: 2011
Type: article
Abstract: This research investigates the social processes at play in the lives of ex-felon men who are stay-at-home fathers. The research question guiding this study asks, "Under what conditions do ex-felon men assume the role of at-home father?" Using data collected from in-depth interviews conducted with ten African-American (ex) Felon at-Home Dads residing in Guilford County, North Carolina, this study found that structural as well as agential factors appeared to impact participants' decisions to take on primary caregiver roles. Drawing from deviance and gender studies, I argue that anomic workforce conditions deny ex-felon men socially acceptable means of gaining financial stability as well as traditional sources of expressing gender. Ex-felon men experience stigma management strain as they attempt to enter/reenter a labor force that often denies ex-felons employment. This experience of strain has led ex-felon men to find new ways to express masculinity. Contextual factors that shape ex-felons' unique experiences along with contemporary images of fathers as nurturers provides some ex-felon men with opportunities to assume domestic roles. By assuming at-home father roles, participants seemingly escaped much of the hostile treatment they experienced as ex-felons. The implication of this research is that American family and domestic life will be reshaped, to some extent, by this Felon-at-home dad phenomenon.
Author: Nailah McDowell
Language: Hungarian
Subfield: Sociology and Political Science
Field: Social Sciences
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W1602679680