ABSTRACT
Researchers interested in masculinity endorse this recent focus on underlying social considerations in specific criminal choices and how they play out in real criminal situations. Descriptions of street offenders' lifestyles and broad ideals are largely the same, and most everyone seems to agree that crime is especially likely to occur in situations that impugn or threaten character constructions based on claims of dangerousness, criminal know-how, or criminal capability. Despite this fact, investigators give more attention to the subcultural value system among street thieves than to how this system affects unfolding situations that lead to crime and intracategory variation in how offenders try to establish character and act masculine in specific social situations. The analysis presented focuses on social situations and settings that evoke a particular masculinity through implied and overt interpersonal challenges and manly competitions.
