BLUE-COATED WORKER - A SOCIOLOGICAL STUDY OF POLICE UNIONISM

• NCJ Number: 55486
• Author(s): R REINER
• Date Published: 1978
• Length: 295 pages
• Corporate Author: Cambridge University Press
• Sale Source: Cambridge University Press
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America

Annotation

BASED ON A CENTRAL CONCEPTION THAT THE POLICE OCCUPY A CONTRADICTORY POSITION IN THE CLASS STRUCTURE, THIS STUDY EXPLORES BRITISH POLICE OFFICER'S ATTITUDES TOWARD WORK AND PARTICULARLY TOWARD TRADE UNION REPRESENTATION.

Abstract

TO STUDY THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN MEMBERSHIP IN A TRADE UNION AND IN THE POLICE FEDERATION (A BRITISH POLICE ORGANIZATION), A STRATIFIED SAMPLE OF ONE-FIFTH OF 1,112 OFFICERS IN THE FEDERATION WERE QUERIED REGARDING THEIR WORK HISTORY, ATTITUDES TOWARD THE FEDERATION, INVOLVEMENT IN THE FEDERATION, OTHER UNION EXPERIENCE, WORK ATTITUDES, PERSONAL ORIENTATION AND ASPIRATIONS, AND DEMOGRAPHIC DATA. IN ALL, 52 PERCENT FELT THE FEDERATION WAS AN ADEQUATE REPRESENTATIVE BODY, ALTHOUGH THE ASSESSMENT VARIED IN TERMS OF ITS SPECIFIC PERFORMANCE ON PARTICULAR ACTIVITIES. THE ONE AREA OF FEDERATION WORK WHICH WAS SEEN AS OUTSTANDINGLY SUCCESSFUL WAS THE HELP GIVEN TO OFFICERS ON DISCIPLINE CHARGES. OVERALL, THERE WAS A GENERAL SATISFACTION WITH THE STRUCTURE AND POWERS OF POLICE REPRESENTATION. A MAJORITY REJECTED THE IDEA OF A POLICE TRADE UNION, ALTHOUGH OPINION WAS RELATED TO RANK, WITH MOST CONSTABLES WANTING THE FEDERATION TO HAVE MORE SAY IN DECISIONMAKING. MOST OF THE FORCE IDENTIFIED WITH THE FEDERATIONIST, SAYING THEIR ATTITUDES TO THE JOB WERE NO DIFFERENT FROM THOSE OF THE ORDINARY POLICE OFFICER. THERE WAS ALSO GENERAL AGREEMENT THAT OUTSIDE TRADE UNIONS WERE TOO POWERFUL, ALTHOUGH THEY WERE ORIGINALLY JUSTIFIED AS PROTECTION FOR WORKERS. POLICE ATTITUDES TOWARD TRADE UNIONISM CAN BE ILLUMINATED BY THE CHARACTERISTICS OF THEIR ORIENTATION TO WORK, WHICH SHOW THEM TO BE MORE SATISFIED THAN MOST MANUAL AND LOWER-GRADE NONMANUAL WORKERS, BUT LESS SO THAN PROFESSIONALS. SATISFACTION WITH WORK WAS RELATED TO OPPOSITION TO UNIONISM. ALTOGETHER, THE DATA SUGGEST THAT THE POLICE OFFICER'S ORIENTATION TO WORK APPROXIMATED THAT WHICH GOLDTHORPE DESCRIBED AS 'BUREAUCRATIC.' WORK WAS SEEN AS SERVICE TO AN ORGANIZATION IN RETURN FOR A LONG-TERM CAREER, CHARACTERIZED BY MORAL INVOLVEMENT RATHER THAN AN INSTRUMENTAL CASH NEXUS. THE SURVEY INSTRUMENT IS PROVIDED, ALONG WITH AN INDEX, TABULAR DATA, AND A BIBLIOGRAPHY. (KBL)