This chapter examines what it implies for the Inhouse residents and Alternative Sentencing Program participants, most of whom are male, to become more virtuous, and often spiritual, persons. The analysis presented in this chapter suggests that, like the routine volunteers at Loaves & Fishes, the drafted volunteers believed that constructing a principled self involves caring for others. Salvationist ideology provided institutionally based resources for moral selving wherein the volunteer recruits were expected to be sober, disciplined to work, and filled with redemption in all aspects of their...

This chapter examines what it implies for the Inhouse residents and Alternative Sentencing Program participants, most of whom are male, to become more virtuous, and often spiritual, persons. The analysis presented in this chapter suggests that, like the routine volunteers at Loaves & Fishes, the drafted volunteers believed that constructing a principled self involves caring for others. Salvationist ideology provided institutionally based resources for moral selving wherein the volunteer recruits were expected to be sober, disciplined to work, and filled with redemption in all aspects of their lives. Although many initially did not wish to be at The Salvation Army, those who became committed to the experience found it important to their self-betterment. Welcomed by the staff and other volunteers, moral selving began by working within the rhetoric of Alcoholics Anonymous and Salvationism.