Sociologists have conceived of emotional labor as alienating. In-depth interviews with general investigative detectives revealed that even within the same occupation workers may find some emotional labor alienating, but other emotional labor bearable or even enjoyable. The detectives we studied disliked their encounters with victims, but enjoyed their encounters with criminals. The detectives discounted criminals' emotional displays as inauthentic, redefined their emotional labor as relevant to catching criminals, and turned the encounters into a game. They could not, however, transform their uncomfortable encounters with victims into a positive experience.
Qualitative sociologists typically privilege fieldwork over interviews. What happens to fieldworkers who now ask questions but no longer hang out? What about those who rely exclusively on intensive interviewing while participant observation remains the standard? The authors examine the negative consequences of privileging fieldwork for identity and practice, the unique contributions of in‐depth interviewing, and the differences in the tales that fieldworkers and interviewers tell. An inclusive identity anchored to the analytical assumptions fieldworkers and interviewers share would increase qualitative researchers' confidence and lead them to do better work.
Marke~olaces can provide settings for the appreciation of beauty and the creation of community. The author examines how gun collectors who buy and sell guns continue to see themselves as aesthetes rather than dealers. Gun collector--dealers turn economic encounters at commercial gun shows into occasions for teaching others the symbolic uses of guns ~ as artifacts, curios, and objets d'art. Economic relations can produce aesthetic value even when the objects exchanged are conventionally defined as symbols of violence and not beauty.
Residential burglaries are important disruptions of the social order and may require special work on the part of the responding law enforcement officer. This study suggests that officers in some departments use crime scene processing as a form of remedial work or negative rite after especially serious breaches of the home as a private place and territory of the self. Controlling for the dollar value of the property loss, presence of suspect leads, and victim's race and insurance coverage, we found that officers in a southern sheriff's department were we likely to call in an evidence technician to dust for prints when victims lost objects typically regarded as markers of the self and when entry involved the use of force.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.