Appraising The Inclusive Definition Of Workplace ‘Violence’

This article examines the limits to which ‘inclusive’ definitions of ‘violence’ can be usefully employed. It does so within the context of research into violence, threats and intimidation experienced in the workplace by police officers and social care professionals (Accident and Emergency staff, men...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:British journal of criminology 2005-03, Vol.45 (2), p.141-164
Main Authors: Waddington, P. A. J., Badger, Doug, Bull, Ray
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Accident and emergency departments
Assault
Concepts
Criminology
Definitions
Fear of crime
Human aggression
Intimidation
Mental health professionals
Normativity
OCCUPATIONAL HEALTH
Perceptions
Police
Police officers
Social Science Research
Social work
Social Workers
Victims
VIOLENCE
Violent crimes
Work Environment
Work place
WORKING CONDITIONS
Workplace violence
Workplaces
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Summary:This article examines the limits to which ‘inclusive’ definitions of ‘violence’ can be usefully employed. It does so within the context of research into violence, threats and intimidation experienced in the workplace by police officers and social care professionals (Accident and Emergency staff, mental health professionals, and social workers). Data were obtained from in-depth cognitive interviewing of 54 police officers and 62 social-care professionals who believed that they had recently suffered such attacks in the course of their work. What emerges is an enormously broad spectrum of behaviour that is experienced as violent, threatening or intimidating. It is argued that to stretch terms like ‘violence’ to cover such an array of experience is confusing, ultimately self-defeating and may create more problems than it resolves. The article concludes that researchers need to differentiate between episodes of ‘violence’ and suggests a set of criteria that should guide this enterprise.
ISSN:0007-0955
1464-3529
DOI:10.1093/bjc/azh052