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- Title
Prison Gang Members' Tattoos as Identity Work: The Visual Communication of Moral Careers.
- Authors
Phelan, Michael P.; Hunt, Scott A.
- Abstract
The purpose of this article is to demonstrate how symbolic self-completion and moral careers are identity work by examining prison gang tattoos. Data were derived from one author's six-year full-member participation as a correctional officer in the California prison system. We examine tattoos specific to members of the Nuestra Familia, a California-based prison gang. Tattoos make an individual's self-definition more complete by visually communicating gang membership, status, rank, and personal accomplishments; they reflect a person's past career accomplishments and possible future career objectives. To analyze the moral careers communicated by these tattoos, we identify and elaborate upon five distinct phases in a prison gang moral career: pre-initiate, initiate, member, veteran, and superior. The article concludes with discussion of the importance of incorporating symbolic self-completion into an identity work perspective and consideration of some implications for future research on gang tattoos in particular and identity construction more generally.
- Subjects
CALIFORNIA; GANG members; TATTOOING; PRISON gangs; BODY marking; CONDUCT of life
- Publication
Symbolic Interaction, 1998, Vol 21, Issue 3, p277
- ISSN
0195-6086
- Publication type
Article
- DOI
10.1525/si.1998.21.3.277