Dealing with fatherhood: Paternal identities among men in the illegal drug economy

Abstract

This study investigates paternal identities among men who are involved in the illegal drug economy in Norway. Using data from life-history interviews, we identified two paternal identities relating to the role fatherhood played in their lives and crimes: struggling fathers and absent fathers. Our analysis demonstrates the structural constraints of fatherhood for crime-involved men, which is rooted in their class positions and enhanced by being situated in hyper-masculine drug markets with little access to hegemonic masculinity. Our study offers a contribution to scholarship on marginalized fatherhood, and highlights the import of paternal identities for understanding the relationship between fatherhood and crime over the life course.