Social network engineering and race in a police academy: A longitudinal analysis

This research examined an attempt to facilitate racial integration by populating squads (i.e., workgroups) in a police academy with mixes of recruits that reflected the racial demographics of the larger cohort. This was part of the social infrastructure of the academy. Additionally, a fixed seating...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Social networks 2010, Vol.32 (1), p.30-43
Main Authors: Conti, Norman, Doreian, Patrick
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Dynamic networks
Educational institutions
Engineering
Ethnic pluralism
Ethnographic research
Group Composition
Group dynamics
Network evolution
Networks over time
Police
Police academy
Policing
Race
Social change
Social Integration
Social Networks
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Summary:This research examined an attempt to facilitate racial integration by populating squads (i.e., workgroups) in a police academy with mixes of recruits that reflected the racial demographics of the larger cohort. This was part of the social infrastructure of the academy. Additionally, a fixed seating arrangement was considered as a second element of academy infrastructure capable of impacting racial integration. We examined the consequences of these academy components over time with regard to race by combining ethnographic accounts with social network data collected throughout the academy and using a variety of network analytic tools. These consequences with regard to race were examined as a part of social network evolution. The academy's social arrangements did accelerate the creation of social knowledge of recruits about each other and the formation of friendship ties both within and between races. However, our results point to clear limitations to such infrastructural engineering and have implications for both recruitment to police academies and dealing with race. They shed light also on processes of homophily and group composition over time and have implications for studying social networks.
ISSN:0378-8733
1879-2111
DOI:10.1016/j.socnet.2009.08.001