RT Article
T1 ‘Violence is completely normal’: Managing Violence Through Narrative Normalization
JF The British journal of criminology
VO 65
IS 1
SP 37
OP 53
A1 Storm-Mathisen, Frøja
LA English
YR 2025
UL https://krimdok.uni-tuebingen.de/Record/1916389988
AB This article introduces the concept ‘narrative normalization of violence’ as a theoretical framework for exploring the interplay between crime and marginality in street culture. Drawing from 4 months of ethnographic observations and 24 qualitative interviews with young men involved in a violent street culture in Oslo, Norway, the study identifies three prevalent narratives. The first, ‘Part of the game’, minimizes the danger of violence; the second, ‘It’s all about respect’, internalizes violence as part of a desired subcultural identity; and the third, ‘We come from concrete’, emphasizes the importance of belonging. In distinctive and important ways these narratives shape collective energies that influence beliefs, attitudes and aspirations, which work to narratively render the exceptional nature of violence manageable and mundane.
K1 Street culture
K1 narrative normalization
K1 Violence
K1 Harm
K1 Marginalization
K1 Narrative Criminology
DO 10.1093/bjc/azae030