The specter of racism: exploring White racial anxieties in the context of policing

The connection between policing and whiteness remains an undertheorized area of police studies. In this article, I explore ordinary policing behaviors through the lens of critical whiteness studies in an effort to understand how White police officers actively make, or fail to make, meaning of race i...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inContemporary justice review : CJR Vol. 18; no. 2; pp. 121 - 138
Main Author Whitehead, Stephanie N.
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published Abingdon Routledge 03.04.2015
Taylor & Francis Ltd
Subjects
Anxiety
critical whiteness studies
Police
Police officers
Policing
racial anxiety
Racial differentiation
Racism
White people
whiteness
United States > US
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Summary:The connection between policing and whiteness remains an undertheorized area of police studies. In this article, I explore ordinary policing behaviors through the lens of critical whiteness studies in an effort to understand how White police officers actively make, or fail to make, meaning of race in the context of their work. Drawing on ethnographic work with three police departments in the Midwest, I describe the racial anxieties and insecurities White officers express at the possibility of being viewed as engaging in racializing behaviors. Of particular interest is the power of the crime control focus orienting everyday policing practice in displacing attention from the many ways race, and particularly whiteness, matters in policing. I conclude by discussing the implications this line of inquiry holds for making discussions about the role of white privilege in policing more productive.
Bibliography:ObjectType-Article-1
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ISSN:1028-2580
1477-2248
DOI:10.1080/10282580.2015.1025622