“It Wasn’t His Fault”: Narrative Strategies of Stigma Management in Families of Incarcerated Men

Grounded in narrative identity theory and biographical approaches to discourse, this study explores how family members of incarcerated men use autobiographical narration to manage stigma and construct morally coherent selves. Drawing on the Biographical-Narrative Interpretive Method (BNIM) and Sykes and Matza’s theory of neutralisation techniques, the analysis focuses on how narrators linguistically reframe their relatives’ criminal actions through justification, mitigation, and blame displacement. Based on interviews with adult children and parents of prisoners, the study identifies discursive strategies employed in argumentative narrative segments, where speakers position themselves in relation to moral responsibility and public discreditation. These stories function as tools of boundary work and identity repair, enabling narrators to preserve dignity and sustain relational bonds. By showing how narrative becomes a resource for navigating morally compromised subject positions, the article contributes to sociolinguistic and narrative inquiry into stigma, identity negotiation, and the micro-politics of storytelling in structurally marginalised contexts.