This study is based on six semi-structured interviews with police officers regarding how humor is used by the police. The purpose of the study was to understand and explain how humor is being used between colleagues within the police force and how it is used towards the public. The aim is to gain a deeper understanding on how humor helps the police officers to handle the emotions that they encounter on a daily basis. We will also explain the moral boundaries for this social group and where the transgression for these gets too big. We explain these factors by analyzing them with the help of Goffmans (2020) Dramaturgical perspective and Hochschild’s (2003) research about emotional management. In conclusion, the results of the interviews showed that humor that is used between colleagues is used to distance themself from tragic encounters at work. The humor that is used towards the public has the purpose to calm down stressful situations as well as gain a sort of relationship with them. These are both positive aspects of how the humor is being used by police officers, hence it gains a sense of unity within the police force and helps them cope with difficult situations. The result also showed that the moral boundaries in humor were different if you were male or female. The male officers answered that they did not have a clear line when the transgression became too big, as long as it did not become offensive toward someone else in the group. The women on the other hand all spoke about the importance of speaking up if the jokes went too far, in order to mark the line on what's okay to joke about. Key words: Police, humor, processing, venting, cohesion, emotional management, boundary setting, moral boundaries
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:UPSALLA1/oai:DiVA.org:lnu-120145 |
| Date | January 2023 |
| Creators | Augustsson, Jakob, Nyrén, Nellie |
| Publisher | Linnéuniversitetet, Institutionen för samhällsstudier (SS) |
| Source Sets | DiVA Archive at Upsalla University |
| Language | Swedish |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Student thesis, info:eu-repo/semantics/bachelorThesis, text |
| Format | application/pdf |
| Rights | info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess |
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