Constructing and sustaining 'race' within the police workforce

Despite its commonplace acceptance by sociologists, the constructionalist notion of 'race' has not been the subject of adequate empirical research. In this article, evidence from two studies that included interviews with serving and erstwhile black and Asian police officers from five English constabularies are used to analyse how, within the context of the police rank-and-file occupational culture, 'race' is constructed and sustained. It is necessary to focus an analysis of 'race' upon the mundane work, organizational and cultural contexts in which it is manifested. The concept of 'racialization', which is central to the analysis undertaken, enables us to chart the ways in which mundane features of the police rank-and-file occupational culture denote and connote relationships and other phenomena with the meaning of 'race'. It becomes possible to identify the social processes that construct and sustain 'race'. 'Race', however, is not normalized by this analysis. The particular and the routine, culturally normative features of the police rank and file occupational culture that racialize phenomena become clear.