Materialities of the Performative: A Sociology of the Police Uniform
Publikation: Beiträge in Zeitschriften › Zeitschriftenaufsätze › Forschung
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in: Behemoth : a Journal on Civilization, Jahrgang 16, Nr. 1, 2023, S. 41-56.
Publikation: Beiträge in Zeitschriften › Zeitschriftenaufsätze › Forschung
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RIS
TY - JOUR
T1 - Materialities of the Performative
T2 - A Sociology of the Police Uniform
AU - Kretschmann, Andrea
AU - Legnaro, Aldo
PY - 2023
Y1 - 2023
N2 - Police equipment (uniforms and armament) is rarely analyzed for its symbolic means. This text focuses on a cultural-sociological analysis of police materialities, bringing together material semiotics with theories of performativity. The last 180 years of German history serve as a case study, which, due to its changes in political regimes, is particularly revealing. It shows that while the materiality of state power was largely oriented toward the policing of subjects through the direct use of force, since the 1970s, there has been an increasing tendency toward making uniforms and equipmentmore civilized and defensive as a way to create distance between the police and the public. In a longitudinal view, therefore, the police’s materialities can be seen as an indicator of respective political and social conditions that correspond with changes in the police’s self-image.
AB - Police equipment (uniforms and armament) is rarely analyzed for its symbolic means. This text focuses on a cultural-sociological analysis of police materialities, bringing together material semiotics with theories of performativity. The last 180 years of German history serve as a case study, which, due to its changes in political regimes, is particularly revealing. It shows that while the materiality of state power was largely oriented toward the policing of subjects through the direct use of force, since the 1970s, there has been an increasing tendency toward making uniforms and equipmentmore civilized and defensive as a way to create distance between the police and the public. In a longitudinal view, therefore, the police’s materialities can be seen as an indicator of respective political and social conditions that correspond with changes in the police’s self-image.
KW - Sociology
KW - Cultural Sociology
KW - Police Studies, Criminology
KW - Police Uniform
KW - Materialities
KW - German Police History
KW - Material Semiotics
KW - Performativity
U2 - 10.6094/behemoth.2023.16.1.1089
DO - 10.6094/behemoth.2023.16.1.1089
M3 - Journal articles
VL - 16
SP - 41
EP - 56
JO - Behemoth : a Journal on Civilization
JF - Behemoth : a Journal on Civilization
SN - 2191-7582
IS - 1
ER -