“It’s kind of like a real-life superhero”: How law enforcement officers discursively reinforce group power relations through self- and other- categorization in talk

Abstract

In examining law enforcement officers’ communication, this study aims to identify the ways in which power structures are maintained through discourse, specifically through the discursive practices of self- and other- categorization. This study attends to the language used by law enforcement officers, and the linguistic strategies they engage, when distinguishing themselves from those who are not law enforcement officers. Furthermore, this study examines how the linguistic strategies employed by law enforcement officers relate to various discourses of power to identify ways in which social relations are reproduced in talk. Findings demonstrate some of the ways in which multiple interrelated discourses reinforce one another in the (re)production of power relations.

Keywords:

• Discourse
• language
• law enforcement
• self-categorization
• social identity

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).