Normalizing the Shamed Self : Stigma, Neutralization and “Narrative Credibility” in Interviews on White‐Collar Transgression

Müller, Thaddeus (2024) Normalizing the Shamed Self : Stigma, Neutralization and “Narrative Credibility” in Interviews on White‐Collar Transgression. Symbolic Interaction. ISSN 0195-6086

Abstract

In this article, I analyze my interviews with Mark (pseudonym), a social scientist who committed major academic fraud in over 50 top‐tier journal articles in the first decade of this century. I explain how stigma played a central role in how Mark and I shaped our interaction. I focus on how Mark, a former Professor and Dean with a distinguished career, constructed normalizing narratives using neutralization techniques. Mark was named a selfish, narcissistic person and labeled as an academic folk devil, which hurt him deeply. He felt he was vilified, ostracized, and demonized. I also focus on my reaction to Mark's representation of being stigmatized, specifically on how I navigated between empathizing and challenging to elicit answers with “narrative credibility.” This article contributes to the field of neutralization techniques in two ways. First, by focusing on the specific interview situation, I show how neutralization techniques are constructed in the unfolding interactional dynamics between the researcher and the research participant. Second, this research describes how neutralization techniques are used to normalize “the shamed self.”