Your post has not been uploaded. Try again?: A Study on the loss of social media during incarceration

Sammanfattning: This thesis examines the loss of social media during incarceration and how incarcerated individuals reflect on the abrupt absence of social media in their lives. Based upon eight interviews with previously incarcerated individuals, this thesis studies the emotional process incarcerated people go through when doing identity work. Building upon Erving Goffman’s framework of identity and self-presentation, Jack Katz's Seductions of Crime, and Heith Copes and Andy Hochstetler’s masculinity in storytelling, this thesis will present the different relations between identity, self-presentation, control, and power. Two main processes are identified in the findings: the process of regaining the social identity one had prior to incarceration, and the process of curating a new identity while being incarcerated. The process of regaining the social identity one had prior to incarceration occurs with access to, for example, contraband phones. The process of curating a new identity while being incarcerated occurs by obtaining new hobbies, such as storytelling. The underlying theme between both processes is power and the battle to regain control over one’s identity and communication. Deviating from previous research on social media use inside prisons, the findings of this study show that incarcerated individuals are hesitant towards social media use behind bars as it would defeat the purpose of incarceration. By presenting the interplay between online identity and control behind bars, this thesis will provide an in-depth perspective on the significance social media has in identity work.