Citation

Copes H, Hochstetler A. J. Contemp. Ethnogr. 2003; 32(3): 279-304.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2003, SAGE Publishing)

DOI

10.1177/0891241603032003002

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

Increasingly, theorists recognize that the influence of masculinity on decision making is situationally contingent and embedded in interactions. Using interviews with ninety-four male street thieves, the authors describe the situations that bring constructions of masculinity into the foreground of street crime. In certain situations, men are likely to engage in criminal behavior as a mechanism for constructing their masculinity. The authors find that hanging with criminally capable associates and partying are critically significant for understanding when masculine concerns bear on criminal decision making. In these situations, copresent others interpret inappropriate actions or responses as definitive signs of weakness, passivity, and failure in the struggle to be a man. They also examine how age and criminal experience shape conceptions of masculinity and the style of their enactment.