Is policing becoming a tainted profession? Media, public perceptions, and implications

Summary Stigmatized professions are those where physical, social, and/or moral taints are applied. Stigma theorists hold that stigma is socially communicated and changes over time, but it is unclear if stigma content can be applied to those who are seen as powerful. Two studies examined how the impa...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of organizational behavior 2020-09, Vol.41 (7), p.606-621
Main Authors: Chatterjee, Deepshikha, Ryan, Ann Marie
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Ascription
College teachers
Community relations
Discourses
diversity
Employee selection
Law enforcement
Mass media
media
Media coverage
News media
Organizational behavior
Organizational change
Police-Citizen interactions
Policing
Professions
Public opinion
Stigma
stigmatization
Theorists
Trust
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Summary:Summary Stigmatized professions are those where physical, social, and/or moral taints are applied. Stigma theorists hold that stigma is socially communicated and changes over time, but it is unclear if stigma content can be applied to those who are seen as powerful. Two studies examined how the impact of sociopolitical discourses on policing, a profession that carries legitimate power, on the tainting of the profession and distrust in policing. In an examination of archival news media clips on policing (N = 200), results show that media coverage over time (between 2011 and 2016) has used a more negative tone in discussing police–citizen interactions, and these findings varied by conservative versus liberal media. Importantly, across media sources, taints were ascribed to policing. In a second survey study, individuals directly ascribed taints to policing (N = 169). Relative to other jobs, policing was categorized as a pervasively stigmatized job (i.e., high frequency and strong potency of taints were applied). It was also found that those who discussed media stories tended to distrust police more. Implications for efforts to recruit, select, and train officers and to improve police–community relations are discussed; findings may also generalize to other public and community facing professions.
ISSN:0894-3796
1099-1379
DOI:10.1002/job.2471