SOC 3750 Study Guide - Quiz Guide: Knowledge Worker, Shift Work, Model Minority

• School: University of Guelph
• Department: Sociology
• Course: SOC 3750
• Professor: Patrick Parnaby

Document Summary

Officers experience stress-related problems in their work. Factors to police stress: organizational practices, criminal justice system, the public, and specifics of police work itself. Two major stressors appeared: organizational and inherent nature of police work. Organizational stressors overall had a larger impact than inherent nature of police work. Interdepartmental practices are a course of distress at work. Factors of organizational stress: authoritarian structure, lack of participation in decisions affecting daily activities, lack of admin support, punishment-oriented policy and unfair discipline. Organization as non-supportive and unresponsive to needs of police officers (in their point of view) Law enforcement historically reactive function, modern policing is pushing for proactive stance. Example, narcotic case: low levels of drug dealers are by-passed for upper level drug dealers. Conflict arises between officers personal job goals and department demands. Reported inherent stressors: danger, shift work, boredom, sense of uselessness, dealing with misery or death. Rotating shifts leads to inadequate sleep, lowering physiological stress resistance.