When Peaceful People Fight: Beyond neutralization and subcultural theory

Abstract

Fights are widespread in society, but for most people it happens once or twice and is not part of a consistent pattern or lifestyle. Using a narrative criminological framework, we study the stories of violence among people who otherwise seldom engage in violent behaviour. The young Norwegians we interviewed, emphasized that their fights emerged as a response to insults, was fuelled by drinking and could be exciting. Participants had negative evaluations of their fights, took the blame for them, talked down their importance and self-critically used humour to ridicule their involvement. Our study demonstrates the shortcomings of subcultural and neutralization theories when it comes to understanding violent behaviour among those who rarely engage in it.