Frøja Isabella Storm-Mathisen

• Andersen, Bengt & Storm-Mathisen, Frøja Isabella (2026). Kapittel 18: Mellom territorium og mobilitet: gatekriminalitet i den delte byen. In Ljunggren, Jørn (Eds.), Oslo – samme by, ulike livssjanser. Cappelen Damm Forskning. ISSN 9788202937294. p. 427–445. doi: 10.23865/cdf.304.ch18. Full text in Research Archive Show summary

  This chapter explores how young men involved in street crime perceive, interpret, and navigate Oslo as a city marked by longstanding sociospatial divisions. It examines how these actors both reproduce and challenge dominant understandings of Oslo as a divided urban landscape, where distinctions between the eastern and western parts of the city carry important social and symbolic meanings. Empirically, the chapter draws on ethnographic fieldwork among young men involved in street crime, complemented by interviews with police personnel, whose professional experiences provide additional perspectives on territoriality, mobility, and criminal networks. The analysis demonstrates that the east–west divide remains a powerful symbolic framework shaping identities, local belonging, and reputations. Participants frequently invoke these spatial distinctions when describing themselves, others, and the social geography of the city. At the same time, their everyday practices reveal a more complex reality. Rather than remaining confined to particular neighbourhoods, they routinely cross territorial boundaries in pursuit of economic opportunities, social relationships, and criminal activities. Their mobility also extends beyond the city through connections to transnational criminal networks. Oslo thus emerges not only as a city structured by enduring sociospatial divisions, but also as an interconnected urban environment, in which mobility creates new opportunities while simultaneously challenging established territorial boundaries. The chapter highlights the coexistence of symbolic divisions and practical forms of spatial integration.

• Storm-Mathisen, Frøja Isabella (2025). The Street’s Embrace: Masculinity and Caring in the Shadows of Crime and Marginalization. Sociology. ISSN 0038-0385. doi: 10.1177/00380385251386372. Full text in Research Archive Show summary

  This article investigates masculinity as a flexible and often contradictory performance, based on eight months of ethnographic fieldwork with 40 young men embedded in a hypermasculine street culture in Oslo, Norway. By examining three distinct forms of caring practices that address tangible, emotional and social needs, the study reveals how violence and toughness coexist alongside meaningful acts of care that strengthen group solidarity. The article calls for a more nuanced understanding of masculinity – one that moves beyond fixed or ideal-type models to recognize masculinity as context-dependent, fluid and internally complex. In doing so, it offers important contributions to both criminological and broader sociological discussions about masculine identity performances.

• Storm-Mathisen, Frøja Isabella (2024). ‘Violence is completely normal’: Managing Violence Through Narrative Normalization. British Journal of Criminology. ISSN 0007-0955. 65(1), p. 37–53. doi: 10.1093/bjc/azae030. Full text in Research Archive Show summary

  This article introduces the concept ‘narrative normalization of violence’ as a theoretical framework for exploring the interplay between crime and marginality in street culture. Drawing from 4 months of ethnographic observations and 24 qualitative interviews with young men involved in a violent street culture in Oslo, Norway, the study identifies three prevalent narratives. The first, ‘Part of the game’, minimizes the danger of violence; the second, ‘It’s all about respect’, internalizes violence as part of a desired subcultural identity; and the third, ‘We come from concrete’, emphasizes the importance of belonging. In distinctive and important ways these narratives shape collective energies that influence beliefs, attitudes and aspirations, which work to narratively render the exceptional nature of violence manageable and mundane.

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• Andersen, Bengt & Storm-Mathisen, Frøja Isabella (2023). Vekterbransjens samfunnsbidrag i Norge. OsloMet - storbyuniversitetet. ISSN 9788276094671. Full text in Research Archive Show summary

  Vekter- eller sikkerhetsbransjen blir en stadig mer og mer synlig sektor og aktør i det norske samfunnet. I denne rapporten ser vi nærmere på om sikkerhetsbransjens samfunnsbidrag er kjent, anerkjent og ikke minst «utnyttet». Vi stiller oss også spørsmålene om det er noen utfordringer knyttet til sikkerhetsbransjens stadig større samfunnsrolle. Rapporten er basert på intervjuer og dokumentanalyser og avsluttes med noen anbefalinger.

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