Enjoying militarism: Political/personal dilemmas in studying U.S. police paramilitary units

This paper makes sense of an irony, experienced while conducting field research, by linking it to broader social, political, and cultural processes. The objectives in doing so are not exclusively theoretical, practical, or methodological, but all three. Explaining the irony necessitates a theoretical and epistemological discussion of the relationship between the dualities of agency/structure, micro/macro, and personal/political. The ethnographic description of a police paramilitary unit's “training session,” and the author's reaction, provide a forum for exposing the practical implications of this micro research event: a strengthening of paramilitaristic policing, state tendencies to militarize social problems in the post-Cold War era, and a revitalization of paramilitarism in popular culture. Finally, the enactment of “self-reflexivity” as the methodological foundation of this study demonstrates its utility.

I would like to thank the four reviewers for their insightful suggestions.

I would like to thank the four reviewers for their insightful suggestions.

Notes

I would like to thank the four reviewers for their insightful suggestions.