‘Livin’ on the Straights’: Identity, Desistance, and Work among Women Post‐Incarceration*

Abstract

This study explores how a group of women recently released from prison as parolees attempt to sustain their exit from deviant careers by constructing replacement selves. To examine this process, I analyze semi‐structured interviews with female ex‐offenders and show how they draw on work as a hook for change (Giordano et al. 2002) in their unfolding identity work. Contrary to traditional gendered scripts, these women view themselves as active participants in the world of work. Upon release not only do they desire to work to meet financial needs, but they also use employment as an avenue through which they begin to construct pro‐social replacement selves. Drawing on longitudinal qualitative data, I point out that as time on the outside passed, many of the women continued to use work as a way to fashion new conventional selves despite their experiences with low‐quality working conditions. I also provide evidence, however, that when women experience significant employment instability, they are unable to sustain their hopeful identity project and, instead, reengage their past deviant selves.