An ethnography of gendered policing

Abstract

It has been suggested that male police officers are the purveyors
of a unique form of occupational masculinity. Publicised cases of sexual
harassment and discrimination. which have come to light in the past few years,
tend to support this assumption. Substantial out of court settlements seem to
suggest that despite numerous attempts to reform what has been described as
police 'canteen culture', a solution appears elusive. In this thesis therefore.
evidence will be presented from fieldwork with two northern police forces to
explore this supposedly masculinist culture. Various ways of explaining the
interrelationships between men, power and identities will be analysed by
theorising about 'certain aspects of policework which lend themselves to the
maintenance of masculinities. Throughout this discussion the way occupational
cultures, within male dominated environments, are bel ieved to perpetuate and
reinforce certain ways of 'being a man' , will be considered. In the course of the
analysis, status, sexuality, competence and heroism will be used to look at the
way masculinist ways of working may have informed our ideas about the
police.