Abstract
The sociology of the police concerns the study of the institution of policing, its structure, function, and evolution. This focus requires a sociology of knowledge, a framework that highlights how social factors shape current knowledge of police. The concept of police is a contested one and often assumed without definition. Its functions are associated with governance in general and the executive function in particular. The public policing form assembled by Robert Peel, a visible, reactive force, is an assumed paradigm for much police research, but it is one of several types of policing, and contrasts with high policing concerned with national security. Internationally, broad types or 'families' of policing have emerged as a result of colonialism. Four specific types of police are common in Western democracies: private policing, pubic policing, hybrid policing, and outsourcing or paying organizations to carry out functions previously restricted to police agencies. Metaphors for studying policing, such as dramaturgy, the policing web, and nodal policing, highlight selected features of the policing function. Many external factors shape policing and the future role and function of the police, given new forms of crime, is unpredictable.
Original language | English (US) |
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Title of host publication | International Encyclopedia of the Social & Behavioral Sciences: Second Edition |
Publisher | Elsevier Inc. |
Pages | 246-250 |
Number of pages | 5 |
ISBN (Electronic) | 9780080970875 |
ISBN (Print) | 9780080970868 |
DOIs | |
State | Published - Mar 26 2015 |
Externally published | Yes |
Keywords
- Colonial policing
- Dramaturgy
- External factors shaping policing
- High or political policing
- Institutional families (comparative) of police
- Metaphors of policing
- Nodal policing
- Police imagery
- Sociology for and sociology of the police
- The Peel paradigm of policing
- The policing web
- The role of the police
- Types of policing
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Social Sciences(all)