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Sharing a laugh: The role of humour in relationships between police officers and ambulance staff

Sarah Charman (Institute of Criminal Justice Studies, University of Portsmouth, Portsmouth, UK)

International Journal of Sociology and Social Policy

ISSN: 0144-333X

Article publication date: 19 April 2013

2129

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to explore the nature of humour within two different organisations, policing and ambulance work, which are linked by their focus on emergency work.

Design/methodology/approach

Semi structured interviews with 45 police officers and ambulance staff sought to understand more about the relationships between these two distinctly different professions who work together closely and regularly in often very difficult situations.

Findings

Interviews with police officers and ambulance staff revealed that humour is a key component in the working relationship of police officers and ambulance staff. The humour of superiority and the humour of exclusion are used to both cope with the demands of their work, reinforce group values and to strengthen the shared bonds between the two occupations.

Originality/value

Humour has been studied within organisations but this paper reveals that humour also functions across occupational divides. Police officers and ambulance staff draw from a mutually acceptable but culturally defined joke‐book in the course of their work. The informal forces of humour appear, ironically, to provide a means of enhanced interoperability between the two organisations but at the expense of other agencies involved within the emergency service field.

Keywords

Citation

Charman, S. (2013), "Sharing a laugh: The role of humour in relationships between police officers and ambulance staff", International Journal of Sociology and Social Policy, Vol. 33 No. 3/4, pp. 152-166. https://doi.org/10.1108/01443331311308212

Publisher

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Emerald Group Publishing Limited

Copyright © 2013, Emerald Group Publishing Limited

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