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Organisational Culture and the Policing Organisation

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Police Socialisation, Identity and Culture

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Abstract

This chapter explores the organisational identity of the British police, which can be understood in both its tacit and its explicit forms. In doing so, it considers the symbolic significance of policing within British culture through an analysis of the imagery of the ‘bobby on the beat’ against the more formal organisational role of the police officer. The power of the police to symbolise the contrasting and conflicting roles of legal actor, law enforcer, state representative and community leaders, for example, is also explored. The chapter therefore seeks to contextualise the changing organisational identity of British policing in order to later more fully understand how new recruits to the police service adapt to their position within the organisation.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. University of Portsmouth, Portsmouth, UK

    Sarah Charman

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  1. Sarah Charman
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Charman, S. (2017). Organisational Culture and the Policing Organisation. In: Police Socialisation, Identity and Culture. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-63070-0_2

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-63070-0_2

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  • Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, Cham

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-319-63069-4

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-319-63070-0

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