Deviant Action and Self-Narration: A Qualitative Survey through ATLAS.ti

This paper has its roots in qualitative analysis of accounts produced by an Italian serial killer. Theoretical references are related to symbolic interactionism and its developments in the field of psychology and criminology. The whole contribution is aimed to twofold purposes: A) to provide a set of criteria specifically addressed to study deviant action as system of meanings into two related contexts: the single action itself and the whole life history. According this point, paper introduces the concept of "deviant career" and it explains its development and steps; it also provides some psychological social points of views and contributions that scientific works offers. B) to think about potentialities of accounting interviews as powerful tools in clinical practice and empirical research too. Specifically, we discuss narrative about behaviour and life story as a resource in order to take suggestions about meanings, goals and rules of action. It also suggests something about functions that crime discharges in the whole pathway of one's life. Juridical case analysis, run by means of the software ATLAS.ti, is aimed to demonstrate theoretical reasoning proposed.

Il contributo si pone due obiettivi principali: 1) presentare il modello teorico dell’azione deviante comunicativa, evidenziando le funzioni svolte dalla devianza nel percorso di vita dell’autore; 2) individuare i criteri che consentono di definire il resoconto di azione come valido strumento per accedere a ragioni e significati soggettivamente attribuiti. L’analisi dell’azione e del suo resoconto rappresentano specifici oggetti di studio in psicologia sociale della devianza e sono di interesse dei sistemi giuridici che rilevano l’azione come reato. La prima parte dell’articolo affronta i presupposti teorici in una prospettiva interazionista simbolica; la seconda illustra il modello proposto attraverso l'analisi di un caso giudiziario effettuata utilizzando il software Atlas.ti.