Symbolic Interactionism in Police Murder Investigations Essay

Symbolic Interactionism in Police attain Investigations - Essay ExampleIn this sense, the communicative acts serve as dramaturgical realizations exemplifying the cultural identities of the police. (Innes 69)To jimmy Innes premise, it is imperative to identify the basic bring to passs of the symbolic interactionist theory. Interactionism is best understood in terms of the existence of an I and a Me in a social doer2. The I manages the impression of the egotism to produce an identity cognize as a Me. When a social actor interacts with another, the initial Me generates another Me by imposing on the other a definition of the self. Consequently, the second actors initial sense of Me is influenced by his interaction with the counterbalance actor. In this sense, each actor manages the image of the self being projected while at the analogous time imposing symbolic meanings on others. (Wilfrid Laurier University)Central to this paradigm is the social actors concept of self. Hester and Eglin describe how the self is conceptualized - both as a process and as an object. As a process, the self is capable of communication to itself from the standpoint of a generalized other, producing situational and contextual responses to varying situations and environments. Through self-interaction, the social actor produces self-indications by defining the context of the situation and then judging the course of action or response take away to the defined situation. Meanwhile, self as an object pertains to a social actors self-image, his understanding of who and what he is. The social actor judges himself from the perspective of a generalized other and thus determines his roles and functions. (Hester and Eglin 92)In exploring the symbolic constructions of homicide investigations, Innes utilizes this interactionist perspective by examining how police officers create and interpret meanings done various communicative acts. Innes posits that the police officer as a social actor ac ts towards situations in terms of the meanings he interprets from them. These meanings are derived through social interaction and wait on a process of self interpretation. Innes sets this framework against the back drop of the police occupational civilisation, which has been imposed by prevailing media and public perceptions about the nature of police work. In this context, the police officer, through his self-impressions combined with the labels imposed upon him by prevalent public views, sees himself as an agent of social order. The police officer is socialized into an occupational role, and thus develops an occupational identity based on the roles demands, and contributes to the maintenance or modification of this character. (Vincent 2) This occupational role is evidenced by organizational communications, which in turn serve to construct and maintain a symbolic representation of the organizations roles and functions. (Innes 71)A major component of this occupational culture is t he chaste ambiguity of policing. Interactionism asserts that