Dealing with fatherhood: Paternal identities among men in the illegal drug economy
| Published date | 01 September 2021 |
| Author | Heidi Grundetjern,Sveinung Sandberg,Heith Copes |
| Date | 01 September 2021 |
| DOI | 10.1177/1477370819874429 |
| Subject Matter | Articles |
https://doi.org/10.1177/1477370819874429
European Journal of Criminology
© The Author(s) 2019
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DOI: 10.1177/1477370819874429
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Dealing with fatherhood:
Paternal identities among
men in the illegal drug
economy
Heidi Grundetjern
Villanova University, USA
Heith Copes
University of Alabama at Birmingham, USA
Sveinung Sandberg
University of Oslo, Norway
Abstract
This study investigates paternal identities among men who are involved in the illegal drug economy
in Norway. Using data from life-history interviews, we identified two paternal identities relating
to the role fatherhood played in their lives and crimes: struggling fathers and absent fathers. Our
analysis demonstrates the structural constraints of fatherhood for crime-involved men, which is
rooted in their class positions and enhanced by being situated in hyper-masculine drug markets
with little access to hegemonic masculinity. Our study offers a contribution to scholarship on
marginalized fatherhood, and highlights the import of paternal identities for understanding the
relationship between fatherhood and crime over the life course.
Keywords
Crime and parenting, drug dealing, fatherhood, paternal identities
Corresponding author:
Heidi Grundetjern, Department of Sociology and Criminology, Villanova University, 800 Lancaster Avenue,
Villanova, PA 19085, USA.
Email: heidi.grundetjern@villanova.edu
874429EUC0010.1177/1477370819874429European Journal of CriminologyGrundetjern et al.
research-article2019
Article
2021, Vol. 18(5) 643–659
Western societies encompass multiple ways of constructing paternal identities. Traditi-
onally, dominant fatherhood identities included the idea of providing (usually materially)
for one’s children and family. The ‘good provider’ role was typically seen as the ideal for
fathers, which valued working long hours to provide the necessary resources for the fam-
ily. In contrast to the good provider was a role associated with being more or less absent
from children’s lives, both physically and psychologically (Marks and Palkovitz, 2004).
This role was typically criticized and such fathers were stigmatized as being ‘deadbeats’.
In recent years, new paternal identities have emerged (Ellingsæter et al., 2013; Marks
and Palkovitz, 2004; Pleck, 1998). These new roles expand on the provider role by plac-
ing value on having a more active involvement in children’s lives, rather than only pro-
viding material resources. Such a role includes fathers who prioritize spending time with
family rather than working longer hours.
The extent to which individuals adopt paternal identities varies by structural posi-
tions. Whereas newer paternal identities are more accessible for middle-class fathers
than for fathers from working or lower classes (Magnus and Benoit, 2017; Marks and
Palkovitz, 2004), less involved types of paternal identities remain more common among
marginalized groups. This could be because men from marginalized backgrounds have
constrained access to legitimate routes to hegemonic masculinity and corresponding
paternal identities (Connell, 1987). The gender performances men adopt in such circum-
stances may be incompatible with complying with normative fatherhood expectations.
This could again increase the likelihood of finding different means of accomplishing
masculinity, including engaging in crime (Mullins, 2006).
In this study, we examine paternal identities among a group of marginalized fathers in
Norway, all of whom used and dealt drugs. Whereas multiple studies have shown how
drug-using mothers negotiate motherhood (for example, Baker and Carson, 1999;
Grundetjern, 2018; Hardesty and Black, 1999), we know significantly less about how
men who are involved in crime and drug use construct fatherhood (but see Magnus and
Benoit, 2017; Moloney et al., 2009; Wilkinson et al., 2009). The tendency to focus on
mothers rather than on fathers reflects a broader social pattern: the links between socie-
ty’s expectations of fatherhood and masculinity are significantly weaker and the cultural
content ascribed to fatherhood remains less clear than it is for motherhood (Gillis, 2000).
In this study, we show that crime- and drug-involved fathers have limited access to new
involved paternal identities, which may function to hinder the potential deterrent effect
of fatherhood (Moloney et al., 2009; Nielsen, 2018). Our study offers a contribution to
scholarship on marginalized fatherhood, and highlights the import of paternal identities
for understanding the relationship between fatherhood and crime over the life course.
Fatherhood in the Scandinavian countries
Scandinavian countries are known for being high on global gender equality indexes
(Hausmann et al., 2012). In social-democratic welfare states such as Norway, parenthood
has been an important part of the politicization of gender equality (Ellingsæter and Leira,
2006). Scandinavian governments support a ‘dual-earner/dual-carer’ model that has dom-
inated parenthood policies since the latter half of the 20th century and encourages both
parents to share earnings and childcare (Leira, 2006). Such an approach to parenting is
644 European Journal of Criminology 18(5)
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