 The Complex Dynamics of Trust and Legitimacy: Understanding Interactions between the Police and Poor Black Neighborhood ResidentsWaverly Duck The ANNALS of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, 2017, vol. 673, issue 1, 132-149 Abstract: This article demonstrates how various forms of surveillance can lead to coping strategies that are corrosive of trust and legitimacy between black neighborhood residents and law enforcement. This article introduces the coping strategy of submissive civility as a method of self-preservation enacted in social situations where power relations are asymmetrical and the dominant party can administer sanctions. Reporting on an ethnographic study of residents’ interactions with police and other agents of surveillance, this article surveys a range of problems that residents face as they try to meet conflicting demands while avoiding sanctions. The analysis shows that issues of trust, legitimacy, and the discretionary authority of police and other outsiders in the neighborhood pervade these interactions. Further, the analysis highlights the complex ways in which family dynamics, unemployment, debt, and drug dealing intersect with the activities of law enforcement and the threat of imprisonment that is woven into the fabric of residents’ lives. Keywords: urban ethnography; poverty; policing; submissive civility; interaction order; race and ethnicity (search for similar items in EconPapers) Downloads: (external link) Related works: Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:sae:anname:v:673:y:2017:i:1:p:132-149 Access Statistics for this article More articles in The ANNALS of the American Academy of Political and Social Science |
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