Lecture 1: Intro to Concepts, Themes and Theories
Explicate the following quote: “Modern societies are characterized by what can be termed ‘police fetishism,’ which conceives of a time-bound human product – the police institution – as if it was an eternal entity. It tacitly presumes that the police are a functional prerequisite of social order and without a police force chaos would ensue. This is an unwarranted ideological assumption. In fact, many societies have existed without a formal police force of any kind …… the police contribution to crime control and order maintenance is debatable.”
What is the essence of public policing?
A brief history of modernity, violence and the policing function (!!!)
Basic Concepts: Distinction between “Police” and “Policing” and Social Control ~ Two incomplete formulations: “Functionalism” and “Conflict” or Social Determinism and Social Construction.
“What is specific to policing is the power prescribed/authorized by law to surveil coupled with the power to use force and issue sanctions.”
A Better Start: “policing may be aimed at securing social order, but its effectiveness is always debatable ……”
Plural Policing
Definitions: High Policing/Low Policing
Changing Agendas of Police Research: From Consensus to Controversy/Conflict (nothing works) to Market Solutions
Politics and Policing: “Policing is inherently and inescapably political.” Question for class; what does this statement imply??
1
The post Lecture 1: Intro to Concepts, Themes and Theories Explicate the following quote: appeared first on PapersSpot.
