By David J. Harding, Maria S. Smith, Da Eun Jung, Stephanie Luna-Lopez & Amanda Glazer

Sociologists use the concept of narrative as an analytical tool and theoretical concept to understand the stories that people tell and their role in social and cultural life. A key tenet of prior research on narratives is their capacity to shape the audience’s understanding and evaluation of the narrator. In this mixed-method study, we investigate the role of narratives in destigmatization through the case of criminal record stigma in the labor market. Based on evidence from a survey experiment in which people with managerial experience were randomly assigned to job applicants with different narratives, we show that evaluations differ across reentry narratives. Drawing on prior theorizations and qualitative interviews with employers, we identify and describe three processes through which narratives impact evaluation and destigmatization: moral justification, social affinity signaling, and information salience.

American Journal of Cultural Sociology, 2025, 33p.