Humour in the Police Workplace: Discursive Practices, Collective Identity, and Negotiating Boundaries
(2026) AHSN - 32nd Annual Conference of the Australasian Humour Studies Research Network — Location: Wellington, New Zealand (10.February.2026)
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- Abstract
- Humour fulfils a variety of different social functions (Holmes, 2000; Schnurr & Plester, 2017). Specifically in occupations marked by frequent exposure to violence, humour has been observed to function as a “collective defense mechanism” (Dejours, 2000; Emirbayer, 2025), helping professionals cope with demanding tasks (Nielsen, 2011). Yet humour can also be dysfunctional, perpetuating power dynamics (D. L. Collinson, 1988; M. Collinson & Collinson, 1996; Holmes & Marra, 2002). This research explores how humour is practiced among police officers in a Belgian station, with particular attention to its gendered dimensions. As a historically male-dominated institution, the police force is undergoing demographic shifts, with increasing numbers of younger female officers entering the profession. These changes are reshaping gendered dynamics, newer generations challenging previously accepted joking practices, leading to renegotiations of what is considered appropriate. The research also examines how specific jokes are received in light of these shifts, revealing both resistance and adaptation. I will focus on the concept of “boundaries”: examining when humour ceases to be humorous, and how these boundaries are negotiated in everyday interactions (Goffman, 1974), and investigates how individuals self-regulate their humour, and what informal or institutional strategies emerge when boundaries are crossed. Drawn from my ongoing PhD research, and over two years of ethnographic fieldwork – including shadowing, i.e. a “way of studying the work and life of people who move often and quickly from place to place” (Czarniawska, 2014, p. 92) and semi-structured interviews (Lewis-Beck et al., 2004), this study reflects on how officers use and interpret humour in their everyday professional interaction. Grounded in an interdisciplinary framework that bridges sociolinguistics, sociology, gender studies, and the psychodynamics of work, this research hopes to offer a nuanced perspective on the interplay between humour and power relations, gender norms, and professional identities within policing.
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Carlier, M. (2026, February). Humour in the Police Workplace: Discursive Practices, Collective Identity, and Negotiating Boundaries. AHSN - 32nd Annual Conference of the Australasian Humour Studies Research Network, Wellington, New Zealand. https://hdl.handle.net/2078.5/277404