
In the Sticks
Cultural Identity in a Rural Police Force
Malcolm Young(Author)
Clarendon Press
Published on 4. November 1993
Book
Hardback
322 pages
978-0-19-876289-8 (ISBN)
Description
After twenty-five years police service on urban Tyneside, the author-a social anthropologist-transferred, on promotion as Superintendent, to West Mercia Constabulary. The arrival of this 'import' coincided with monetarist demands for efficiency and effectiveness, a political thrust which came hard up against rural ideas of hierarchy, paternalism, and a cultural belief that denied validity to outsiders - such as those in the adjacent West Midlands Police. Detailing the way West Mercia operated and justified some bizarre practices, the ethnography shows how cultural identity was defined and deployed on a daily basis and explores the diverse and rich cultural baggage the rural world sustained even in the face of intense calls for the management of change. Reflecting on the lack of financial control he found, the author links all this to the racism he observed-to a xenophobic means of maintaining social boundaries, defending edgy environments and preserving a semi-closed culture from the intrusions of outsiders.
Reviews / Votes
From reviews of An Inside Job: `This is not simply the story of peculiar police practices; it is a wholly original account of how critical myths about the relative stability of our entire society were generated and maintained ... in these duplicitous days, we can only be grateful that here is one police notebook that has so evidently made it untouched to the outside world.' Laurie Taylor, New Statesman and SocietyMore details
Language
English
Place of publication
Oxford
United Kingdom
Publishing group
Oxford University Press
Target group
Professional and scholarly
Illustrations
halftones, line figures
Dimensions
Height: 235 mm
Width: 157 mm
Thickness: 24 mm
Weight
678 gr
ISBN-13
978-0-19-876289-8 (9780198762898)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Person
Malcolm Young is a retired Police Superintendent
Content
Cultural identity and ethnicity; the anthropologist at home; rural rides; force style; HQ culture at the "Big House"; rural practice and project research; further fiscal follies; expanding the universe; the management of change; the force as family; condition black-negative; personal notes.