Fake IDs: Who Values Them Most

The issue of false identification, A.K.A. "Fake Ids" is not news, especially when considering the importance of alcohol and drinking as icons of contemporary collegiate life. A recent article in the Roanoke Times outlines this issue and hints at both its prevalence and the sophistication of these IDs in the 21st century.

This post is not so much intended to comment on Fake IDs as a contemporary social problem as to shine some light on the underage individuals who most highly prize possessing such identification. More to the point, some students value fake id as not only a status symbols or an accoutrement of the savvy, well prepared collegian, but as an absolute necessities to salvage a successful collegiate social life.

When conducting qualitative research on collegiate drinking, both as part of a formal research methodology in the mid 1990s and unofficially in conversations with underage collegians from the late 1980s throughout the 1990s (and on to the present) I had expected the 18- or 19-year-old first-year student to be at the head of the pack in advocating the importance of the "fake id"; I was surprised to learn that I was wrong.

Although fake id, especially "good" fake id, is prized by entering college students, they were not seriously inconvenienced if they did not have access to identification that could stand the scrutiny of trained "gatekeepers" at licensed drinking establishments. Many of these students told me that they did most of their collegiate drinking with friends and acquaintances at clandestine locations, often the "$X at the door, all you can drink" house party where there was no id check or if ids were required, a "note from your mother" was sufficient for entry.

For these entering collegians, it was the ability to produce fake id and display it, like the "condom in the wallet" of the 1960s male, that was significant. It was a trophy or talisman of sorts, that evoked awe and respect from other "less fortunate" underage collegians. And even if the entering student had a "high quality" piece of fake id, the chances are that it would be used far less frequently that either "we" or its owner would have thought because the venues desired for collegiate socializing by entering or "inexperienced" first-year students were the clandestine sites frequented by friends and these simply did not require id.

Surprisingly, it was the 20-year old junior or senior student who not only coveted "quality" false identification, but who recognized that her or his ability to socialize, and do so with specific friends who were of age, depended on such. Many junior and senior students--students I refer to as "experienced" students--realize what in the literature is referred to as the "maturing out phenomenon." For these students, the allure of the keg party attended by "100 of your closest friends" has passed. Juniors and Seniors report that they prefer to go out in small groups and frequent establishments where alcohol is served and frequently is not the focal point, i.e., "the entertainment." Such students of age, planning to go to a club requiring id, will inadvertently present their 20-year old friends with a dilemma...either talk the group into a different social venue or secure quality false identification that will ensure entry to the club. It is this student, the 20-year-old junior or senior, for whom fake id is an issue of social primacy.

It would seem that false identification has always been an issue for "underage" students, but as the sophistication of such identification has increased and its importance for specific underage students is recognized, we can begin to appreciate why some students will go to great ends and invest significant amounts of money and resources in securing "quality" fake id.

Robert