Agency displays in stories of drunk driving: Subjectivity, authorship, and reflectivity
This study examined 30 stories of drunk driving (DD) recounted by repeat offenders in the early phase of a court-mandated counseling program. The focus of analysis was on displays of agency in the narrators’ portrayal of themselves as protagonists in the stories. The expressions
of subjectivity, authorship, and reflectivity were considered as constructors of agency positions. In the analysis of the videotaped and transcribed stories, five story types of agency were found. They displayed the narrator-protagonists’ agency positions as either unconcerned, weak,
egotistical, akratic, or disowned. The quality of telling is viewed as expressing the narrators’ problematic agency positions, readiness for personal change, and motivations to process the problem in counseling. The variety of disclaims of agency in DD are discussed as clients’
contributions at the outset of coerced counseling.
Keywords: agency; drunk driving; narrative; reflectivity; subjectivity
Document Type: Research Article
Affiliations: 1: Finnish Student Health Service, Tampere, Finland 2: Department of Psychology,University of Jyväskylä, Jyväskylä, Finland
Publication date: 01 December 2012
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