19 research outputs found
Field, capital and the policing habitus: nderstanding Bourdieu through The NYPD’s post-9/11 counterterrorism practices
This article extends existing Bourdieusian theory in criminology and
security literature through examining the practices of the New York City
Police Department in the post-9/11 counterterrorism field. This article
makes several original contributions. First, it explores the resilient nature
of the policing habitus, extending Bourdieusian criminological findings
that habitus are entrenched and difficult to change. Second, this article
examines the way the resilient habitus drives subordinate factions to
displace dominant factions in a field’s established social hierarchy
through boundary-pushing practices, a concept previously unexamined in
Bourdieusian criminology. Drawing on original documentary analysis, this
article uses the illustrative example of the NYPD’s post-9/11
counterterrorism practices, exploring how it sought to displace the
existing social structure by using its aggressive policing habitus and an
infusion of ‘War on Terror’ capital to challenge the dominant position of
the FBI in the post-9/11 counterterrorism field. The NYPD’s habitus
driven counterterrorism practices were novel and unprecedented,
creating strain with both the FBI and local communities