The rubber brick’s story: A cultural sociology of policing protest in Europe

Research output: Journal contributionsJournal articlesResearchpeer-review

Authors

This ethnographically based article investigates the simulated enactments European police forces undergo in mock cities in order to train for protest policing. From a perspective grounded in cultural sociology, the analysis focuses on the rubber brick used in these simulations as a substitute for the stones that protesters sometimes hurl at police. It looks at the brick as a cultural materialisation that marks a specific form of police training, as well as policing more generally. By following the stone’s trace, the article argues that the brick acts as a medium that reflects police action: It derives its meaning from the imaginary of the demonstrators and protesters as violent, and sometimes even as hostile, in the sense of forces which should be met with a combative police reaction. Thus, the stone creates a self-image of the police characterised by toughness, courage, and strength. The thorough article adds to the research about protest policing by offering the first investigation of the meaning of simulated training for police forces.
Original languageEnglish
JournalEuropean Journal of Cultural and Political Sociology
Volume10
Issue number2
Pages (from-to)233 - 257
Number of pages25
ISSN2325-4823
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 2023

Bibliographical note

Publisher Copyright:
© 2022 European Sociological Association.

    Research areas

  • Sociology - police training, rubber brick, enactment, cultural sociology, simulation theory, protest policing

Recently viewed

Organisations

  1. Fakultät Bildung

Publications

  1. Stefan Panhans
  2. Die Pflicht zur Information der Öffentlichkeit nach § 39 KrW-/AbfG - eine überflüssige Norm?
  3. Krisis und Invention
  4. Discursive Tropes of Aggression Against Queer-Sexuality in Nigerian Standup Comedy
  5. Action training for charismatic leadership
  6. National culture and business model change
  7. Worlds Apart: Does Perceptual Congruence Between Leaders and Older Employees Regarding Age-Friendly Organizational Climate, Management, and Work Design Matter?
  8. Editorial
  9. § 289 c Inhalt der nichtfinanziellen Erklärung
  10. Dynamics of the polycrisis
  11. Participation of Children and Young People in Alternative Care - Introduction
  12. Die Grundschul-Bibel
  13. Farmer Perceptions of the Ecosystem Services Provided by Scavengers
  14. Schadenfreude as social-functional dominance regulator
  15. Collaborative governance and personal relationships for sustainability transformation in the textile sector
  16. § 18 Konzern und Konzernunternehmen
  17. Klänge
  18. Einleitung
  19. Wirkung intermittierender akustischer Reize auf mentale Prozesse
  20. Im Spiegel der Zeit
  21. § 17 Überlassungspflichten
  22. A bait-and-switch model of corporate social responsibility
  23. § 15 Verbundene Unternehmen
  24. Erinnerung und Wiedergutmachung historischen Unrechts
  25. The Right to Consular Assistance Under International Law
  26. §§ 9 -13 WindSeeG (Zentrale Voruntersuchung von Flächen)
  27. Das Profil der 7 - 11jährigen Kinder in motorischen Bereichen
  28. German Works Councils, Profits and Innovation
  29. Validating the Digital Health Literacy Instrument in Relation to COVID-19 Information (COVID-DHL-K) among South Korean Undergraduates
  30. Cultural Leadership in Practice
  31. IM OSTEN GEHT DIE SONNE AUF
  32. Existenzgründung durch Unternehmensnachfolge
  33. Il potere sovrano e la nuda vita