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Title
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Investigating identity work by Chinese police officers in police mediation discourse
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Author
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Abstract
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| Identity is a hot topic for research in social sciences. However, little research explores identity in police mediation discourse. Meanwhile, existing research on identity from pragmatic perspective has mainly focused on identity construction and its linguistic representation, ignoring identity deconstruction and identity work as a means of rapport management. In response to this research gap, the present study, drawing on Pragmatic Identity Theory, Rapport Management Model, and Linguistic Adaptation Theory, and adopting a linguistic ethnographic methodology, aims to probe into the Chinese police officers’ identity work in their mediation interaction. Drawing on the transcripts of recordings of 13 Chinese police officer-mediated interactions in a Chinese context, this study examines what, how and why identity work is carried out by police officers in civil conflict mediation discourse. By providing a detailed description and interpretation of identity work in Chinese police mediation interaction, this study has the following implications: Theoretically, this study can promote the understanding of identity work, particularly the characteristics and motivations of identity work in institutionally multiple-identity situation. The present study can enrich and broaden the scope of research on identity work and pragmatic identity by discussing in detail identity deconstruction and its linguistic devices, thus showing a more dynamic feature of identity work. Meanwhile, by bringing Rapport Management Model into the analysis of the communicative goals of identity work, this study provides a new perspective on the relationship between identity work and relational work. Practically, the present research can fill in the research gaps in both police discourse and mediation discourse researches by exploring the various identity (de)construction process in police mediation discourse, having shown the complexity and dynamics of police mediation discourse from the pragmatic perspective. It can enhance the present understanding of police mediation work, facilitate the civil conflict resolution and improve the effectiveness of police mediation work. Methodologically, the linguistic-ethnographic research method adopted in the present study could be used to examine identity work in other institutional settings. This method, by shadowing and observing the interactants’ discursive interactions, gives access to the original first-hand data, including natural recording, questionnaires, interviews, and field notes, etc. Therefore, this study may contribute to the study of identity work and police mediation discourse by providing multiple types of data and a different methodology for reference. |
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Language
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English
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Publication
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Nanjing University & University of Antwerp
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2021
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Volume/pages
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XXIII, 517 p.
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Note
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Chen, Xinren [Supervisor]
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Vandenbroucke, Mieke [Supervisor]
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Verschueren, Jef [Supervisor]
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Full text (publisher's version - intranet only)
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