‘Me, us, and Them’: Policing and the Dynamics of Identity Work

• Published date: 01 March 2025
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1177/10986111241246311
• Author: Angela Workman-Stark
• Date: 01 March 2025
• Subject Matter: Articles

Article

Police Quarterly

2025, Vol. 28(1) 78–103

© The Author(s) 2024

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DOI: 10.1177/10986111241246311

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‘Me, us, and Them’: Policing

and the Dynamics of Identity

Work

Angela Workman-Stark

1



Abstract

The study of identity work has grown exponentially in the past decade; however, little

research has been undertaken in challenging occupational contexts, such as policing.

Existing studies have focused on tensions between personal and work identities, such as

being a woman in a male-dominated workplace, or how off‌icers have responded to

threats to their occupational identities. Using data collected from interviews with

32 Canadian police off‌icers, this study examines the circumstances that compel off‌icers

to engage in identity work and the processes undertaken to alleviate these identity

conf‌licts or threats. The f‌indings illustrate that police off‌icer identity work is prompted

by four primary triggers, def‌ined as: (1) identity strain; (2) work-identity stigma; (3)

identity maturation; and (4) organizational indifference. The f‌indings also suggest that

these triggers are inf‌luenced by police culture and the related socialization processes

that continue to emphasize traditional masculine attributes (e.g., aggression, physical

strength and toughness).

Keywords

police culture, identity work, organizational change, identity threats, gender

1

Faculty of Business, Athabasca University, Athabasca, AB, Canada

Corresponding Author:

Angela Workman-Stark, Faculty of Business, Athabasca University, 1 University Drive, Athabasca, AB T9S

3A3, Canada.

Email: angela.workman-stark@athabascau.ca

Introduction

In the past decade, numerous organizations within the defence and public safety sectors

have come under intense scrutiny for sexual harassment (e.g., Canadian Armed Forces,

Corrections Canada, LAPD, NYPD, Royal Canadian Mounted Police, U.S. Military)

and other negative behaviors, such as race-based discrimination (e.g., Corrections

Canada, RCMP, U.S. Military). Calls for organizational reform tend to recommend

increased recruitment of women and members from other marginalized groups. Yet

these recommendations neglect the inf‌luence of the work environment on how indi-

viduals strive to create self-meaning. In other words, these proposed changes overlook

the reality that police off‌icers are more than their occupational identities and that

environmental forces are likely to compel them to manage their conf‌licting identities

through the process of identity work —the “cognitive, discursive, physical, and

behavioral activities that individuals undertake with the goal of forming, repairing,

maintaining, strengthening, revising, or rejecting”their sense of self within the context

of work (Caza, Vough, & Puranik., 2018, p. 895). Understanding the relationship

between occupational context and identity work is important as it can aid our un-

derstanding of the factors contributing to challenging work environments, particularly

for marginalized identities.

Within the workplace, people work on three types of identities: collective (orga-

nizational and occupational), role, and personal identities (Ashforth et al., 2008). While

identity work can be triggered through the adoption of a new occupational identity or in

response to organizational change, other forms of intense identity work can emerge

from a challenging work environment (Petriglieri, 2015;Pratt, 2000), negative work

experiences (Lutgen-Sandvik, 2008), or tensions between personal and professional

identities (Creed et al., 2010;Koerner, 2014).

Within a policing context, the majority of research has largely been limited to the

police occupational identity, such as examining the ideological strategies off‌icers

engage in to cope with criticisms of their occupation (e.g., Dick, 2005). For example,

several studies show how police off‌icers emphasize the positive aspects of their work,

such as self-sacrif‌ice, heroism, or performing a critical public service over external

depictions of physical force and aggression (e.g., Ashforth & Kreiner, 2014;Dick,

2005;Gramlich & Parker, 2017;Marier & Moule, 2019;Rantatalo, 2016). To a much

lesser extent, this research has also explored conf‌licts between a specif‌ic personal

identity (i.e., gender, sexuality, or family status) and the police occupational identity

(e.g., du Plessis et al., 2020;Rabe-Hemp, 2009;Veldman et al., 2017). Despite the

contributions of prior research, we know little about the contextual factors that trigger

differing forms of identity work or the conf‌licts that potentially emerge between of-

f‌icers’differing identities. Of equal interest is the type of identity work off‌icers engage

in to potentially resolve these conf‌licts. In short, greater knowledge of these contours of

identity work is likely to assist police leaders with developing more inclusive and

supportive workplaces.

Workman-Stark 79