scholarly journals In their shoes: exploring the social experiences of black male police officers in Canada.

Author(s):  
Anthony Lawrence

This qualitative research study presents a critical analysis of race and policing by examining the experiences of four Black male police officers in Canada. This study seeks to understand the essence of these experiences and understand the reality of what it means to be a Black male police officer. Included are the results of qualitative interviews with these police officers, using critical race theory as the theoretical framework to explain participants’ experiences as police officers. The themes that emerged from the interviews were the following: the glass ceiling for Black police officers; issues of identity and belonging; negative stereotyping; and future recommendations. Given that this group belongs to both a profession which exhibits inherent racial bias, in the form of over-surveillance and the use of excessive (and even lethal) force against racialized minorities, as well as belonging to the very minority community targeted by the police, it is imperative that we explore and understand the unique tensions black officers experience.

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anthony Lawrence

This qualitative research study presents a critical analysis of race and policing by examining the experiences of four Black male police officers in Canada. This study seeks to understand the essence of these experiences and understand the reality of what it means to be a Black male police officer. Included are the results of qualitative interviews with these police officers, using critical race theory as the theoretical framework to explain participants’ experiences as police officers. The themes that emerged from the interviews were the following: the glass ceiling for Black police officers; issues of identity and belonging; negative stereotyping; and future recommendations. Given that this group belongs to both a profession which exhibits inherent racial bias, in the form of over-surveillance and the use of excessive (and even lethal) force against racialized minorities, as well as belonging to the very minority community targeted by the police, it is imperative that we explore and understand the unique tensions black officers experience.


Author(s):  
Stevie Johnson ◽  
MeShawn Conley ◽  
Myron L. Pope

The impetus behind this manuscript is to provide practitioners the transparency of executing a Black Male Initiative Program. Although established only for a year, the University of Central Oklahoma has created a framework for institutions of higher learning – specifically predominantly white, metropolitan institutions – that could be implemented to combat the social and cultural barriers that African-American males encounter during or before their college experience. Using Critical Race Theory and Dr. Shaun Harper's anti-deficit framework as the theoretical structure for the Black Male Initiative program, this manuscript will further report the planning for the program, illustrate the significance of recruiting, retaining and graduating Black males and the transformative implications of African-American male success.


2014 ◽  
Vol 8 (1) ◽  
pp. 17-25 ◽  
Author(s):  
Bayram Unal

This study deals with survival strategies of illegal migrants in Turkey. It aims to provide an explanation for the efforts to keep illegality sustainable for one specific ethnic/national group—that is, the Gagauz of Moldova, who are of Turkish ethnic origin. In order to explicate the advantages of Turkish ethnic origin, I will focus on their preferential treatment at state-law level and in terms of the implementation of the law by police officers. In a remarkable way, the juridical framework has introduced legal ways of dealing with the illegality of ethnically Turkish migrants. From the viewpoint of migration, the presence of strategic tools of illegality forces us to ask not so much law-related questions, but to turn to a sociological inquiry of how and why they overstay their visas. Therefore, this study concludes that it is the social processes behind their illegality, rather than its form, that is more important for our understanding of the migrants’ survival strategies in destination countries.


2021 ◽  
pp. 002580242199336
Author(s):  
Meron Wondemaghen

Ideological shifts in mental health-care policy such as deinstitutionalisation have meant police have had to make decisions about the care of persons with a mental-health crisis. This study examines how police in five English counties respond to crisis calls when employing the powers afforded in section 136 of the Mental Health Act 1983, and the effectiveness of the national Street Triage pilot scheme. Qualitative interviews with 30 police officers and mental-health nurses (MHN) were collected as data sources. The analysis shows that police have previously struggled with the significant number of crisis calls, whilst also finding mental-health services inadequately sourced, leading to some detentions in police cells as alternatives to health-based places of safety. However, the scheme has made positive changes in alleviating these issues when MHN are co-located with police, highlighting the need to strengthen their partnership by facilitating the sharing of information, responsibilities and decision making in order to ensure police cells continue to be avoided as alternative places of safety.


2021 ◽  
pp. 003022282110265
Author(s):  
Dorothy M. Goulah-Pabst

The complicated grief experienced by suicide loss survivors leads to feelings of abandonment, rejection, intense self-blame, and depression. Stigma surrounding suicide further burdens survivors who can experience rejection by their community and social networks. Research in the field of psychology has delved into the grieving process of suicide loss survivors, however the effects of suicide require more sociological study to fully understand and support the impact of the suicidal bereavement process on the social interactions and relationships of those left behind after death. This study aims to contribute to the body of research exploring the social challenges faced after the suicide of a loved one. Based on the analysis of powerful personal narratives through qualitative interviews shared by 14 suicide loss survivors this study explores the social construction of the grieving and healing process for suicide loss survivors. Recognizing that the most reliable relief is in commiseration with like experienced people, this research points to the support group as a builder of social solidarity. The alienation caused by the shame and stigma of suicide loss can be reversed by the feelings of attachment to the group that listens, understands and accepts. Groups created by and for suicide loss survivors should be considered a necessary tool to be used toward healing those who suffer from loss by suicide.


2021 ◽  
Vol 54 (1) ◽  
pp. 120-134
Author(s):  
Dilek Kurban

In his well-researched biography, Mike Chinoy chronicles Kevin Boyle's life and career as a scholar, activist and lawyer, bringing to light his under-appreciated role in the civil rights movement in Northern Ireland and the efforts to find a peaceful solution to the conflict, as well as his contributions to human rights movements in the United Kingdom, Europe and the world. Are You With Me? is an important contribution to the literature on the actors who have shaped the norms, institutions and operations of human rights. In its efforts to shed light on one man, the book offers a fresh alternative to state-centric accounts of the origins of human rights. The book offers a portrait of a social movement actor turned legal scholar who used the law to contest the social inequalities against the minority community to which he belonged and to push for a solution to the underlying political conflict, as well as revelations of the complex power dynamics between human rights lawyers and the social movements they represent. In these respects Are You With Me? also provides valuable insights for socio-legal scholars, especially those focusing on legal mobilisation. At the same time the book could have provided a fuller and more complex biographical account had Chinoy been geographically and linguistically comprehensive in selecting his interviewees. The exclusion of Kurdish lawyers and human rights advocates is noticeable, particularly in light of the inclusion of Boyle's local partners in other contexts, such as South Africa.


2021 ◽  
pp. 147332502110028
Author(s):  
Emmy Högström Tagesson ◽  
Carina Gallo

This article examines how seven social workers within the Swedish social services describe intimate partner violence between teenagers (IPV-BT). The article adds to the literature by examining IPV-BT outside a U.S. context, where most studies have been conducted. Based on semistructured qualitative interviews, the authors analyze descriptions of IPV-BT in relation to Charles Tilly’s notion of category making through transfer, encounter, negotiation, and imposition. They also analyze how the social workers’ descriptions of IPV-BT relate to the intersection between age and gender. The results show that the social workers mostly described IPV-BT by referring to encounters with teenagers and by transferring knowledge and theoretical definitions from their specialized working areas, primarily intimate partner violence between adults (IPV-BA) and troubled youth. More rarely, the social workers based their definitions of IPV-BT upon negotiating dialogues with teenagers. Also, those who worked in teams specialized on IPV had the mandate to impose their definitions of IPV-BT to other professionals and teenagers. When taking age and gender hierarchies in consideration, the results show IPV-BT risks being subordinate IPV-BA on a theoretical level, a practical level and in terms of treatment quality. The study suggests that social work with IPV-BT needs to be sensitive to the double subordinations of the teenage girl and of the teenagers who do not follow gender expectations.


2010 ◽  
Vol 30 (6) ◽  
pp. 1055-1072 ◽  
Author(s):  
SHANNON MCDERMOTT

ABSTRACTOver the past 50 years, self-neglect among older people has been conceptualised in both social policy and the academy as a social problem which is defined in relation to medical illness and requires professional intervention. Few authors, however, have analysed the concept of self-neglect in relation to critical sociological theory. This is problematic because professional judgements, which provide the impetus for intervention, are inherently influenced by the social and cultural context. The purpose of this article is to use critical theory as a framework for interpreting the findings from a qualitative study which explored judgements in relation to older people in situations of self-neglect made by professionals. Two types of data were collected. There were 125 hours of observations at meetings and home assessments conducted by professionals associated with the Community Options Programme in Sydney, Australia, and 18 professionals who worked with self-neglecting older people in the community gave in-depth qualitative interviews. The findings show that professional judgements of self-neglect focus on risk and capacity, and that these perceptions influence when and how interventions occur. The assumptions upon which professional judgements are based are then further analysed in relation to critical theory.


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