Abstract
Focusing on the lives of British Muslim young men, this article examines the links between their social and economic relations and their prison experiences, desistance, and identity. In understanding the meanings they place on their prison experiences and their social and economic marginalization, the article theorises about social integration, and their place in British society. An intergenerational shift from the availability of local high-waged, skilled, and secure textile work to low-waged, precarious, service work presented them with a series of problems and opportunities, leading them to reject licit wage labour and embrace illicit entrepreneurial criminality. The article concludes that their social and economic relations drove criminal solutions, not ethnicity.
Highlights
Drawn from a wider study, this article focuses on the effects of poverty, and their connected prison experiences, on British Muslim young men of Pakistani heritage who offend
Despite being relatively poorly educated and poorly skilled, they are still the most likely to be overqualified for their job and are paid less due, no doubt, in part because of discrimination and due to the fact that as employees they have different characteristics and work for different types of firm compared to white employees (Brynin and Longhi 2015)
The Boys spoke of demonstrating solidarity to one another and to their fellow Muslim inmates when inside, and it is well documented that the conditions of imprisonment can give rise to close friendships and strong bonds of solidarity amongst inmates (Crewe 2009)
Summary
Drawn from a wider study, this article focuses on the effects of poverty, and their connected prison experiences, on British Muslim young men of Pakistani heritage who offend (the group studied designated themselves ‘The Boys’). The structure of this article is, first, to delineate the uniquely isolated and segmented nature of Muslim young men’s general experience and profile as a group in respect of their labour market, employment, occupational, demographic, educational, and geographical profile, all factors consistent with a higher likelihood of going to prison. Despite being relatively poorly educated and poorly skilled, they are still the most likely to be overqualified for their job and are paid less due, no doubt, in part because of discrimination and due to the fact that as employees they have different characteristics and work for different types of firm compared to white employees (Brynin and Longhi 2015) Their isolation and segmentation from the mainstream labour market was reflected in the views and prospects of the Muslim young men we interviewed. Rather, that these adverse conditions make it more likely that they will seek such solutions through acquisitive and entrepreneurial crime
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