The article which will be reviewed was published in 2017 by O’Neill with the title Police Community Support Officers: A Dramaturgical Analysis, and it can be found in volume 27 of the journal Policing and Society. The author research revolves around the role of police community support officers (PCSOs), their daily activities and their relationship with other co-workers, especially with police constables (PCs). The analysis is achieved through the qualitative methods of observation and in-depth interviewing. The article is structured in paragraphs, including an introduction, theoretical framework, methods, performances, teamwork, regions, discussion, and conclusion.
The author begins with presenting the role itself, which was created by the …show more content…
PCSOs attempt to achieve this type of performance to show police officers that they are as skilled as them, for example by gathering information. For this purpose, PSCOs must achieve ‘dramatic realisation’ to understand what police officers value the most about their work. For Goffman, a team is any group of people who cooperate for the sake of the same performance, such as PCSOs and PCs separately. To comprehend this theme, O’Neill utilises three elements: training, spoiling a performance, and relationships with PCs. The first one is related to the need of PCSOs to watch other PCSOs instead of PCs, this will help them understand their role. For spoiling a performance, O’Neill refers to the fact that only teammates can interrupt the show; PCSOs support each other in public and correct each other in private, this helps the performance because it does not ruin it. On the other hand, the relationships between PCSOs and PCs suggest that they are not part of the same team since PCs tease PCSOs even in public. Therefore, PCs are just another audience. With regions, Goffman describes the spaces used by PCSOs. There are two areas which are the ‘front region’, where the performance is delivered to the audience, and the ‘back region’, which is
The author begins with presenting the role itself, which was created by the …show more content…
PCSOs attempt to achieve this type of performance to show police officers that they are as skilled as them, for example by gathering information. For this purpose, PSCOs must achieve ‘dramatic realisation’ to understand what police officers value the most about their work. For Goffman, a team is any group of people who cooperate for the sake of the same performance, such as PCSOs and PCs separately. To comprehend this theme, O’Neill utilises three elements: training, spoiling a performance, and relationships with PCs. The first one is related to the need of PCSOs to watch other PCSOs instead of PCs, this will help them understand their role. For spoiling a performance, O’Neill refers to the fact that only teammates can interrupt the show; PCSOs support each other in public and correct each other in private, this helps the performance because it does not ruin it. On the other hand, the relationships between PCSOs and PCs suggest that they are not part of the same team since PCs tease PCSOs even in public. Therefore, PCs are just another audience. With regions, Goffman describes the spaces used by PCSOs. There are two areas which are the ‘front region’, where the performance is delivered to the audience, and the ‘back region’, which is