Digital ritual: Police-public social media encounters and 'Authentic' interaction

Alistair Henry

doi:10.1093/bjc/azad036

Digital ritual: Police-public social media encounters and 'Authentic' interaction

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

Abstract / Description of output

This article formulates the concept of digital ritual to characterise the continuum of symbolic encounters enabled by social media affordances, and to explain their solidarity-enhancing potential. Applying digital ritual to police uses of social media confirms this promise but also reveals risks of mediated authenticity. The article cautions against influencer styles of engagement that risk privileging popularity over probity in ways dangerous for police legitimacy. It is argued that insights from conceptualising online encounters as digital rituals can instead be marshalled to support an alternative ‘working personality of the digital cop’; one reflecting principles of candour and democratic policing that provide a sounder basis for establishing what ‘authentic’ online police-public interactions ought to look like.

Original language	English
Pages (from-to)	452 - 467
Number of pages	16
Journal	The British Journal of Criminology: An International Review of Crime and Society (BJC)
Volume	64
Issue number	2
Early online date	23 Aug 2023
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1093/bjc/azad036
Publication status	Published - 1 Mar 2024

Keywords / Materials (for Non-textual outputs)

digital ritual
interaction ritual
encounters
social media
policing
authentic

Access to Document

10.1093/bjc/azad036Licence: Creative Commons: Attribution (CC-BY)

HenryA2023BJCDigitalRitualFinal published version, 309 KBLicence: Creative Commons: Attribution (CC-BY)

1 Other report

Digital Deviance/Digital Compliance: Criminology, Social Interaction and the Videogame
Henry, A. & Horgan, S., 20 Mar 2024, Scottish Centre for Crime and Justice Research. 17 p.
Research output: Book/Report › Other report

Cite this

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title = "Digital ritual: Police-public social media encounters and 'Authentic' interaction",

abstract = "This article formulates the concept of digital ritual to characterise the continuum of symbolic encounters enabled by social media affordances, and to explain their solidarity-enhancing potential. Applying digital ritual to police uses of social media confirms this promise but also reveals risks of mediated authenticity. The article cautions against influencer styles of engagement that risk privileging popularity over probity in ways dangerous for police legitimacy. It is argued that insights from conceptualising online encounters as digital rituals can instead be marshalled to support an alternative {\textquoteleft}working personality of the digital cop{\textquoteright}; one reflecting principles of candour and democratic policing that provide a sounder basis for establishing what {\textquoteleft}authentic{\textquoteright} online police-public interactions ought to look like.",

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note = "Funding Information: I am very grateful to the editor and anonymous reviewers for their constructive feedback on the article. I would also like to thank Andy Aydin-Aitchison, Jamie Buchan, Ben Collier and Richard Jones for their insightful comments on earlier drafts of the manuscript. Publisher Copyright: {\textcopyright} 2023 The Author(s). Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Centre for Crime and Justice Studies (ISTD).",

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Digital ritual: Police-public social media encounters and 'Authentic' interaction

Abstract / Description of output

Keywords / Materials (for Non-textual outputs)

Access to Document

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Research output

Digital Deviance/Digital Compliance: Criminology, Social Interaction and the Videogame

Cite this