Aogán Mulcahy

Trial by fire: Media constructions of corporate deviance

Some scholars blame the low salience of corporate deviance on a lack of media coverage. Others claim that negative coverage might shame corporations into compliance with regulations. We examine how the news frame used to report corporate deviance affects issues of salience and regulation. We create a conceptual model of crime news frames and use it to analyze newspaper coverage of two instances of alleged corporate deviance: claims about the safety of GM trucks and an NBC Dateline program about the trucks. The coverage was shaped by the standard crime news frame, with its features of attribution and individualization of responsibility, maintenance of moral boundaries, and resolution. The reliance on this frame reinforced dominant ideological definitions of corporate deviance that perpetuate its low salience and limit the use of the media as a mechanism for inducing corporate compliance.

“HEADHUNTER” OR “REAL COP”? Identity in the World of Internal Affairs Officers

This article examines the ways in which internal affairs (IA) officers cope with the stigma associated with their role within police organizations. IA officers in four police departments in the Southwest were interviewed about relations with non-IA officers, and two broad strategies of identity management were found. First, IA officers used the justifications of “denial of the victim” and “appeals to higher loyalty” to account for their actions. Second, they used the destigmatization techniques of “aristocratization” and “transcendence” to refute the “headhunter” stereotype of IA officers. The article concludes with a discussion of the theoretical significance of these strategies and notes the functional nature of the IA stigma for various groups.

‘Alright in their own place’: Policing and the spatial regulation of Irish Travellers

Recent efforts to improve relations between ethnic minority communities and the police have generally revolved around a ‘diversity’ agenda, through strategies to enhance consultation, increase recruitment levels and so on. However, for communities characterized by nomadism, a different set of issues arises. For the police, nomadism undermines the information work which is at the heart of their governance mandate. This article considers relations between Irish Travellers and the police, and highlights police recourse to strategies of spatial regulation in dealing with Travellers. The scale of the evident mistrust and hostility is such that efforts to improve this relationship through the policing diversity agenda alone are likely to have little success unless they also address the acute marginalization of Travellers, and the provision of adequate accommodation in particular.

Visions of Normality: Peace and the Reconstruction of Policing in Northern Ireland:

While all regimes of social control require normalisation, this need is particularly acute in deeply divided societies where the maintenance of social order is a highly contested activity. In the aftermath of a protracted conflict, as the boundaries of ‘normality’ are blurred, disputes over the nature of ‘normal policing’ reflect broader conflicts over the competing visions of normality which shape the emerging social order. This paper considers the visions of normality articulated in Royal Ulster Constabulary (RUC) discourse within the broad context of the ongoing peace process in Northern Ireland. As the conflict appeared to draw to a close following the 1994 paramilitary ceasefires and related political developments, the RUC’s role came under intense scrutiny. The visions of normality privileged in RUC discourse functioned to ensure the force’s organisational survival and institutional outlook by consolidating its role within the emerging social and political orders of Northern Ireland. In this context, the articulation of normal policing is synonymous with policing the boundaries of that normality.

Policing and social conflict in Northern Ireland

In this introduction, we provide a historical account of the development of policing in Northern Ireland. In Section One, we discuss the historical imperatives that shaped the nature of policing in pre‐independence Ireland. In Section Two, we consider the links between police and state in Northern Ireland, and explore the dynamics of policing during the conflict. As police reform emerged as a central plank of the peace process, we examine the potential of the Patten Report to resolve the difficulties surrounding policing and police legitimacy. We conclude by highlighting the positive lessons to emerge from the ongoing debate over police reform in Northern Ireland.

The ‘Other’ Lessons from Ireland? Policing, Political Violence and Policy Transfer

In a paper entitled ‘Lessons from Ireland’, Paddy Hillyard argued that Northern Ireland essentially served as a testing ground for the development of repressive policy measures that eventually would transfer elsewhere. In this article, I engage with the important thesis advanced by Hillyard and others, and argue that it stands in need of theoretical refinement and empirical elaboration. First, I highlight some factors that might be considered in any re-evaluation of this approach. Second, I examine the impact of the Northern conflict on policing in Britain and the Republic of Ireland, both to demonstrate the salience of these issues and to highlight ways in which the conflict’s impact was tempered by other factors. Finally, I suggest that a focus on the negative lessons of conflict should be complemented by attention to positive lessons of conflict and its resolution

The language of policing and the struggle for legitimacy in Northern Ireland

British government strategies of conflict management in Northern Ireland placed a heavy emphasis on police professionalism, which was itself connected to a broader set of initiatives to frame public understandings of the conflict in particular ways. In this paper we argue that as part of this process, a specific language of policing has been deployed in Northern Ireland in an effort to enhance the legitimacy of the Royal Ulster Constabulary (RUC). The two central elements of this are ‘consent’ and ‘service’. Using interview and historical data, we outline the various ways in which these concepts are utilised to support claims that the force operates with widespread community support, and has at its core a commitment to service provision. We suggest that these tenets are part of a broader discursive strategy to complement material practices of policing in Northern Ireland. While they articulate a highly positive image of the RUC, they provide limited scope for understanding and responding to criticism of current policing structures and arrangements.

IJS Editorial – 26(2) – August 2018

We are delighted to announce that the Irish Journal of Sociology (IJS) has been included in Scopus. This is a major achievement for the journal and reflects a considerable effort on the part of previous editors who helped ensure that the journal maintained the standards of academic rigour and professionalism which have led to this recommendation. Inclusion in Scopus is an important statement of the journal’s standing. In a world where metrics play a role, we hope that this achievement will offer our contributors a wider audience and extend the IJS’s appeal to those who previously had not have considered it as an outlet for their work. The contribution of the IJS to the community of sociologist in Ireland and abroad has never been in doubt, but we are entering a new phase in terms of the reach of the journal nationally, continentally and globally. As editors, we hope that this step forward, built on the foundation of our contributors and editors over the years, will solidify the journal’s role in providing an outlet for innovation, rigorous research and debate across the discipline. The articles in this issue address a diverse range of topics, which reflect our vision of sociology as editors. Gardner considers the ethnic-building dimensions of Ulster Scots in Northern Ireland, and explores how this has become more institutionalized through different phases. Given past and current debates about borders and identity, this work offers nuance and context that is often absent. Alicja Bobek et al. examine the motivations and experiences of Polish construction workers. This work demonstrates that while economic factors were clearly important in their migration decisions, other concerns also played a key role in this process, including family context and lifestyle. This perspective complicates the often simplistic narratives rooted in pure material concerns that dominate contemporary Irish Journal of Sociology 2018, Vol. 26(2) 137–138 ! The Author(s) 2018 Article reuse guidelines: sagepub.com/journals-permissions DOI: 10.1177/0791603518792326 journals.sagepub.com/home/irj

Trajectories of policing in Ireland: Similarities, differences, convergences

This chapter examines the trajectories of policing in Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland. I consider the origins and development of policing in each jurisdiction; the dynamics of police-community relations; the crises and challenges that arose for each police force; and the reform measures put in place to address these. Through this analysis, I suggest that while clear differences are evident – particularly arising from political division – there are also underlying similarities. Moreover, the ongoing peace process has increased the prospects for greater convergence between policing arrangements north and south. I conclude by considering the wider lessons that policing in Ireland has for issues of accountability, legitimacy and police-community relations.

Policing in Divided Societies

In divided societies, the police tend to be closely aligned with the dominant social group and their actions focus on maintaining state security rather than providing routine policing services. As a consequence, policing often becomes a key axis of conflict and efforts to reform the police are central to the process of conflict resolution. The Patten Report reforms, for example, were a crucial part of the peace process in Northern Ireland and have been widely viewed as a success. However in other divided societies where police reform may comprise part of a peacekeeping intervention or international aid program, the impact of ‘security sector reform’ measures tends to be less clear-cut, partly because of the scale of the challenges involved, and also because of the difference in the priorities of the ‘donor’ and the host societies.