Police routine and habitus: A social-ecological study

Journal/Book: Soziale Welt. 2000; 51: Annastrabe 7, D-37075 Gottingen, Germany. Verlag Otto Schwartz & Co. 7+.

Abstract: The article reports an ethnographic case study examining the adaptive reactions of policemen to an emerging ''street corner society'' in a Duisburg city district. The study was conducted in a poor district characterized by an ethnic polarisation between local residents and their Turkish neighbours. First, the article explains that policemen operating in arenas of the local public usually conduct most of their work applying a corporate police habitus by which they symbolically produce and reproduce their power. The use of this habitus accounts for a great part of policemen's everyday practice, such as handling civil actors and preventing the escalation of conflicts during police intervention. However, the use of a corporate police habitus also serves as a basis for policemen's adaptation to multiple social contexts in the city. Thus, in order to cope with the particular context of the ''street corner society'' in the above mentioned district, policemen act out an extreme machismo habitus and get involved in machismo-oriented character contests. Corporate police then turn into ''street corner police''. The style of performance of street corner police is based upon a concept of ''honour'' related to the martial ideal of chivalry, and the common ground constituted by the shared concept of honour facilitates the informal social work carried out by the police. The strategic use of character contests enables street corner police to control street corner actors, to channel social conflicts, and to even render them integrative.

Note: Article Huttermann J, Univ Bielefeld, Inst Interdisziplinare Konflikt & Gewaltforsch, Postfach 100 131, D-33501 Bielefeld, GERMANY

Keyword(s): WORK

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