How humour and interpretations of masculinities reify stigma and influence police tactical officers' experiences of organizational stress in Canada
Zachary Towns, Rosemary RicciardelliPurpose
We sought to explore if stigma directed towards police tactical (TAC) officers' can contribute to organizational stress and shape workplace relationships. Further, we studied how stigmatizing attributes can have implications on mental wellness among TAC officers.
Design/methodology/approach
We draw on 117 semi-structured qualitative interviews with a geographically diverse sample of TAC officers' across Canada to examine their experiences and perceptions of stigma within police organizations.
Findings
Our findings suggest the intersection of police organizational culture, masculinities and stigma, a theory based on stereotypes, shape how TAC officers are implicitly and explicitly perceived and treated. TAC stigmas are framed within infrahumanizing tropes that mark and devalue TAC officers based on their perceived physicality, gendered traits, attitudes and behaviours. Police leadership, organizational culture and popularized media can also reify these stigmas, having potential implications on TAC officer uptake in police service-based psychological resources and help-seeking.
Originality/value
Our study contributes to emerging scholarship on TAC officer occupational stress by identifying how stigma is an under examined source of organizational job-context stress likely shaping TAC officers' experiences of psychological strain.