The Cop and the Sociologist

Download or read book The Cop and the Sociologist written by Barbara Thériault and published by transcript Verlag. This book was released on 2014-03-31 with total page 223 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Drawing on the sociology of Max Weber, Barbara Thériault investigates today's relations toward difference within German police forces. Accompanying and interviewing police officers whose job it is to contribute to the acknowledgement of difference, the sociologist outlines three ideal types of actors - an empathetic, a principled, and an opportunist one - and the motives underlying their actions. A fourth type, the specialist, is conspicuously absent. Why is that so? Solving this enigma helps depicting the relations to difference within police forces: it points to a specific »spirit« of diversity and a singular way to apprehend the individual in Germany.