NORMAL VIOLENCE, CLEAN MONEY, EASY SEX AND ROUTINE LYING: THE CONTRADICTION BETWEEN FORMAL AND INFORMAL WORLDS IN THE POLICEMAN'S CONSTRUCTION OF REALITY.

摘要

In this dissertation I attempt to analyze the hidden logic of sexist ideology through an exploration of the psychological and cultural meaning of femininity in the context of masculine gender construction of policemen. First I discuss the way that policemen organize their psycho-social worlds in terms of complex layers of oppositional symbols with masculine and feminine significance. In particular, I outline the social construction of the policeman's world in terms of formal and informal worlds and inside and outside domains which retain a cultural and unconscious association to femininity and masculinity. In order to become a man and a real cop, the policeman rejects and devalues "inside spheres" such as the Police Academy which are associated with feminine skills including the use of the mind over the body, verbal versus physical means to resolve conflict, childcare, social service, and secretarial work. Instead, he participates in the high status outside world of the street which involves the crime fighting and rescue activities and physical skills associated with masculinity and real policework. At the same time, he rejects the formal world of law and participates in an informal world characterized by normal violence, clean money, easy sex and routine lying.;I conclude with a discussion of the introduction of women to uniformed patrol in the context of the contradiction between formal and informal worlds. I suggest that policemen resist policewomen because they represent the purity of the home and the formal order of law. If the wife or mother takes her moral crusade to the street, men fear she will expose their informal world of normal violence, clean money, easy sex and routine lying. The exposure not only signifies the political subversion of a patronage system based on corruption and violence but it also represents an attempt to undermine the very basis of masculine gender identity. Consequently, the feminization of policing symbolizes the emasculation of men and the subversion of a social order based on the opposition between domestic and public spheres.