The McDonaldization of the Danish Police
Abstract
Using Ritzer’s McDonaldization theory, this article argues that the dominant trend in recent Danish police history has been ideals of efficiency, computability, predictability and control. However, it is clear that the question of political power is important when analyzing the McDonaldization of the Danish police, given its central role in the exercise of state power. I therefore argue that the McDonaldization of the Danish police marks a transformation of bureaucratic rule characterized by a shift from a legal to an economic interpretation of the central ideals of bureaucracy.References
Bohm, R.M., 2006. »McJustice«: On the McDonaldization of Criminal Justice. Justice Quarterly, March, Vol.23(1), pp. 127-146. https://doi.org/10.1080/07418820600552576
Diderichsen, A., 2013. Vidensideal. Erkendelsesteori, politik og professionalisering. I: Om at opdage. Metodiske refleksioner over politiets undersøgelsespraksis. Frederiksberg: Samfundslitteratur, pp. 55-93.
Diderichsen, A., 2017. Renewal and Retraditionalisation – the Short and Not Very Glorious History of the Danish Bachelor’s Degree in Policing. Nordisk Politiforskning, pp. 149-169. https://doi.org/10.18261/issn.1894-8693-2017-02-04
Fyfe, N.R., 2015. Police Reform in Scotland. Tijdschrift voor de Politie, Volume 10, pp. 39-43.
Gundhus, H.O., Talberg, N. & Wathne, C.T., 2018. Konturene av en ny politirolle: Politiansattes erfaringer med nærpolitireformen. In: Politireformer. Idealer, realiteter, retorikk og praksis. Oslo: Cappelen Damm Akademisk, pp. 199-222. https://doi.org/10.18261/issn.2535-2512-2019-05-09
Hartmann, M., 2014. In the Gray Zone: With Police in Making Space for Creativity. Frederiksberg: Copenhagen Business School (Ph.d-afhandling).
Heslop, R., 2011. The British Police Service: Professionalisation or »McDonaldization«?. International Journal of Police Science & Management, 13(4), pp. 312-321. https://doi.org/10.1350/ijps.2011.13.4.238
Justitsministeriet, 2019. Mål- og resultatplan for politiet 2019. [Online] Available at: http://www.justitsministeriet.dk/sites/default/files/media/Arbejdsomraader/Ministeriet/maal-_og_resultatplan_for_politiet_2019.pdf [Accessed 1 April 2019].
Martin, S.E., 1999. Police force or police service? Gender and emotional labor. The Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, 561(1), pp. 111-126. https://doi.org/10.1177/0002716299561001008
Moore, M.H. & Braga, A., 2003. The »Bottom Line« of Policing: What Citizens Should Value (and Measure!) in Police Pef. Washington, D.C.: Police Executive Research Forum.
Produktivitetskomissionen, 2013. Baggrundsrapport: Målinger af produktivitet i den offentlige sektor. Metodemæssige udfordringer. København: Produktivitetskomissionen.
Reiner, R., 2013. Who governs? Democracy, plutocracy, science and prophecy in policing. Criminology & Criminal Justice, 13(2), pp. 161-180. https://doi.org/10.1177/1748895812474282
Rittel, H.W.J. & Webber, M.M., 1973. Dilemmas in a General Theory of Planning. Policy Sciences, Volume 4, p. 155-169. https://doi.org/10.1007/bf01405730
Ritzer, G., 1998. The McDonaldization Thesis: Explorations and Extensions. London: Sage.
Ritzer, G., 2010. McDonaldization: The Reader. 3rd ed. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
Ritzer, G., 2015. McDonaldization of Society, 8th edition. Los Angeles & London: Sage.
Rosanvallon, P., 2020. Le siècle du populisme. Histoire, théorie, critique. Paris: Éditions du Seuil. https://doi.org/10.3917/cite.083.0183
Russell, A.H., 2012. The Managed Heart: Commercialization of Human Feeling. 3rd edition ed. Berkeley, Los Angeles & London: University of California Press.
Sherman, L.W., 2013. The Rise of Evidence-Based Policing: Targeting, Testing, and Tracking. Crime and Justice, 42(1), pp. 377-451. https://doi.org/10.1086/670819
Shichor, D., 1997. Three Strikes as a Public Policy: The Convergence of the New Penology and the McDonaldization of Punishment. Crime & Delinquency, 43(4), pp. 470-492. https://doi.org/10.1177/0011128797043004005
Sparrow, M.K., 2000. The Regulatory Craft: Controlling Risks, Solving Problems, and Managing Compliance. Washington, DC: The Brookings Institution.
Sparrow, M.K., 2016. Handcuffed. What Holds Policing Back, and the Keys to Reform. Washington, D.C.: Brookings Institution Press.
Tilley, N. & Laycock, G., 2014. The Police as Professional Problem-Solvers. In: J. Brown, ed. The Future of Policing. London: Routledge.
van Steden, R. & de Waard, J., 2013. Acting Like Chameleons: On the McDonaldization of Private Security. Security Journal, 26(3), pp. 294-309. https://doi.org/10.1057/sj.2013.18
wa Mwachofi, N., 1998. Missing the cultural basis of irrationality in the McDonaldization of society. In: M. Alfino, J.S. Caputo & R. Wynard, eds. McDonadization revisisted: Critical essays on consumer culture. Westport, CT: Praeger, pp. 143-158.
Weber, M., 1998. Den protestantiske etik og kapitalismens ånd. København: Nansensgade Antikvariat.
