Catégorisation des usagers et rhétorique professionnelle: Le cas des policiers sur la voie publique

Placing “users” or even “customers” at the center of concern has been the keystone in reforms in several French public services. As the example of police officers shows however, the idea of a user takes on quite specific meanings depending on the values and objectives defended by the occupational group in question. Placing those who commit offenses, their victims or mere citizens into categories is part of the process of constructing what the police officer's “real work” should be by disqualifying and stigmatizing those who “don't fit in”.