Social identity and context matter: perceived procedural justice and legitimacy in policing pro-Palestine protest in the UK

• In Event: POL Panel 5. Public Order, Violence and Protest Policing

Abstract

In policing large-scale demonstrations, maintaining trust and legitimacy is paramount for law enforcement agencies to encourage compliance from the crowd. Failure to adequately justify the use of force could eventually escalate tensions and lead to more violent confrontations with protestors. Embedded within the recent Israel-Palestine conflict that has triggered various mass demonstrations in London, this study aims to explore the impact of social identity on individual’s perceptions of police actions and government response. By conducting an online survey with 150 participants in the UK, we seek to understand how social identification with the protestors can shape individuals' perception of procedural justice and legitimacy of the police actions, as well as satisfaction regarding the government’s response to the issue.

Our findings show that social identification significantly influences how individuals perceive both police actions and government responses, with participants identified with the pro-Palestine side viewing police actions as less procedural fair and less legitimate, compared to their pro-Israel and neutral counterparts. Moreover, our path analysis suggests that police legitimacy is a significant factor in predicting and mediating the effect of their satisfaction with the government’s response. Not only do our findings support the Group Engagement Model that the relational identification with the police mediates the effect of procedural justice on legitimacy, but it also extends the theoretical framework to include individuals' perceptions of the government. While most policing research on procedural justice and legitimacy focuses on interpersonal interaction between the police and those being policed, this research contends that studying the wider socio-political context is critical for a comprehensive understanding of how contextual intergroup relations can influence individuals' perception of fairness and legitimacy.

Authors

• Angus Chan, University College London

• Ben Bradford, University College London

• Clifford Stott, Keele University