2- Canteen culture

• Canteen culture


  Adopted by police with a distinctive 'working class value' to deal with the pressure to create a sense of identity
• Reiner (1992) - Core Characteristics:

  • Cynicism
  • Conservatism
  • Macho Values
  • Suspicion
  • Racism
• Black and Asian people tend to become the 'butt' of the joke and reinforces prejudice and differentiation
• Skolnick (1996) argues police suffer from canteen culture whereby racist attitudes get reinforced by subcultural attitudes within the force
• In the 1950s, many Afrocaribbeans migrated, yet they had the lowest crime rates. In the 1970s, conflict between police and black people increased and 'Black criminality' suddenly became a problem.
• Lea and Young (1993) argue 90% of crime is reported to the police so this may reflect real offending rates.
• In the 90s, Asian crime was concerning the media by 'gang-related' crime and 9/11 terrorist attacks fueled this idea about Asians, especially Muslims, that they are the 'enemy from within'.