More Than “Just the Facts”?: Portrayals of Masculinity in Police and Detective Programs Over Time

Abstract

Despite television's capacity for socialization effects, quantitative research on the depiction of masculinity is scant. The current study employs content analysis methodology to examine several attributes of masculinity among major male characters in televised police and detective programs over time. Within a sample of 210 major male characters from 24 top-rated programs airing between the 1950s and the turn of the millennium, the analysis finds some movement across the decades toward more emotional expressiveness and less stoicism, although the latest decade examined, the 1990s, reverses the trend. Levels of physical aggression remained fairly consistent across the decades examined. Characters of color, who were severely underrepresented in the sample across all decades examined, were no more likely to be presented as “bad guys” compared to White characters, but did differ in terms of their lesser tendency to be shown in romantic relationships or to express affection.

KEYTERMS:

• content analysis
• gender roles
• masculinity
• police/cop shows
• television

Notes

Note. *Statistically significant change over time.

⁺approaching statistical significance in change over time, p ≤ .10.

Note. *For each male character, whether they displayed or discussed a series of emotions was indicated by 0 = no, 1 = yes. For this variable, all of the 1s were summed.

**1 (stoic/highly controlled) to 5 (emotionally expressive).

***1 (socially alienated/isolated) to 5 (socially integrated).