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Tamara: Journal for Critical Organization Inquiry

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Year 2018 
Volume 16 
Issue 1

Negotiating the Professional in Media Representation: The Carnivalesque and Privatized Security Work

Rebecca Rice
University of Colorado Boulder

2018 16 (1) Tamara: Journal for Critical Organization Inquiry

Abstract

Security work is increasingly privatized under neoliberal governance, a trend that is not without controversy over legitimacy and ethics. Public interaction with and understanding of private security contractors is in part mediated by popular cultural representations. In particular, parodies of these organizations are significant for their ability to tell audiences what organizations and members are not. This paper examines representations of security work by looking at Paul Blart: Mall Cop as a parody that creates relief from official hierarchies of security using Bakhtinian carnival, by lowering security discourses to the level of the grotesque, non-professional body. However, parodies may also encourage public acceptance of privatization by showing private security workers to be more creative and efficient. Parodies of security work can serve as temporary relief from daily need to comply with security regimes, while also aligning privatized security work with discourses of professionalism and authority.

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APA style

Rice, Rebecca M. (2018). Negotiating the Professional in Media Representation: The Carnivalesque and Privatized Security Work. (2018). Negotiating the Professional in Media Representation: The Carnivalesque and Privatized Security Work. Tamara: Journal For Critical Organization Inquiry, 16(1), 25-36. (Original work published 2018)

MLA style

Rice, Rebecca M.. “Negotiating The Professional In Media Representation: The Carnivalesque And Privatized Security Work”. 2018. Tamara: Journal For Critical Organization Inquiry, vol. 16, no. 1, 2018, pp. 25-36.

Chicago style

Rice, Rebecca M.. “Negotiating The Professional In Media Representation: The Carnivalesque And Privatized Security Work”. Tamara: Journal For Critical Organization Inquiry, Tamara: Journal for Critical Organization Inquiry, 16, no. 1 (2018): 25-36.