Anticipated Stigma and Defensive Individualism During Postincarceration Job Searching*

Abstract

Obtaining employment is one of the most difficult challenges for individuals released from prison. This research explores the strategies recently released male parolees employ in attempting to find work, with specific attention to the role of anticipated stigma from their exconvict status. Through the use of in-depth longitudinal interviews, this research contributes to our understanding of returning prisoner's experiences in job searching. We find that although a majority of the sample anticipated stigma as a barrier to employment, those who did expressed an extreme-self-reliance consistent with defensive individualism. This reluctance to draw on social networks, may ultimately be counter-productive to the search for employment.

“Work Your Story”: Selective Voluntary Disclosure, Stigma Management, and Narratives of Seeking Employment After Prison

“…Second, research has found that many people with criminal records have modest or limited expectations and aspirations when it comes to jobs, especially compared to their noncriminally involved peers (e.g., De Giorgi 2017;Ray, Grommon, and Rydberg 2016). This is often due to a complex admixture of poor job prospects, discrimination, uneven job history, and so forth (e.g., Western 2018).…”

“…Viewed as an economic game of securing employment and maximizing wages, the actions of the sample might seem perplexing. On average, people in my sample sent out fewer than one application per week, and many sought out what, in US parlance, have been referred to as "felon-friendly" jobs (Bumiller 2015;Ray, Grommon, and Rydberg 2016). In a world of constrained opportunities, many opted to work for people who either did not care about their criminal record or saw them as a better person for it.…”

Prisoners’ Perceptions About Postrelease Employment in Romania: Studying the Role of Human Capital and Labelling Factors in Explaining Optimism and Pessimism

“…The current study aimed to describe prisoners’ perceptions about their postrelease employment outcomes, and the factors associated with these perceptions among a sample of male prisoners in Romania. The focus on prisoner perceptions was motivated by prior research implying that how prisoners regard their chances of reentering the labour market has profound implications for their behaviour and success rate on release (Maruna, 2001; Ray et al, 2016).…”

“…Still others adopted a rather straightforward approach by making it public and waiting to “see what happens” (p. 10). Ray et al (2016) found that most prisoners perceived that it would be difficult to find a job after release but did not reach out to others for help in the job search process. Instead they used a “defensive individualism” 1 strategy based on the belief that they need to find a job without anyone’s support (Ray et al, 2016, p. 18).…”

“…The relevance of addressing these issues is indisputable because prior studies found strong correlations between prisoners’ expectancies and the likelihood to desist from crime (Burnett & Maruna, 2004; LeBel, Burnett, Maruna, & Bushway, 2008; Maruna, 2001). For example, Maruna (2001) found that those who abstain from crime hold positive expectations about their future, whereas those who persist share a rather fatalistic view, claiming that they are “doomed to fail.” A recent study reported empirical evidence for the link between perceptions about employment and actual employment outcomes; those who think a priori that they will be stigmatized use different search strategies and are, because of that, less successful in finding a job (Ray, Grommon, & Rydberg, 2016). These findings imply that improving prisoner perceptions about their postrelease future can increase their employment chances and, subsequently, may reduce their recidivism risks.…”