Fire Fighters, Neighbourhoods and Social Identity: the relationship between the fire service and residents in Bristol
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DiscussionIn this section, I will discuss these findings further, particularly reflecting upon how they answer the research questions. The overarching aim of this programme of research, as stated above and elsewhere, is to examine the relationship between the fire service and the communities in which they work, focussing particularly on the roots of perceived hostility, how social identity approaches can be used to consider these problems and whether existing engagement mechanisms are effective. I will address each of these issues in turn, considering them in the light of the themes outlined above. However, it must be remembered that the questions and themes are linked, and, as such, one theme could come within the remit of numerous different questions. The context in which these focus groups occurred is of particular relevance for the relationship between fire fighters and residents. Residents in many poorer neighbourhoods, such as those discussed here, typically have little control over a number of aspects of their lives, including where they live, and the services which that area is equipped with. Further, these areas are likely to be subject to a range of stereotypes, many of which are negative, and which are transferred to residents. Residents of more deprived neighbourhoods, especially where they are council tenants, or a ‘vulnerable group’ (parents of young children, members of BME communities, elderly etc) were already subjected to a number of interventions, some more welcome than others, from a range of different agencies. In this light, the fire service, especially where they are intervening increasingly in the community, risk becoming labelled as just another agency intent on doing things at or to residents rather than with them or on their behalf. This leads to a degree of hostility towards all external agencies, coupled with a suspicion of outsiders in general. Where external agencies are seen as outsiders, this is compounded. Further, and as with previous research on policing (Bradford, Jackson et al. 2008), the fire service face increasing criticism even from law abiding residents as they find they cannot cater to all the whims of the community. For instance, where some residents are likely to complain that fire fighters drive too fast, other residents worry that they are not getting to emergencies in time. Further, the more work they do in the community, the more likely they are to be seen as interfering and labelled alongside agencies such as the police, who are treated with historical enmity. This paradox is at the heart of how the fire service need to learn to engage with communities, and will be discussed in greater detail in the concluding chapter. Other factors which influence the relationship between the fire service include the physicality of fire fighters themselves. As such, they are viewed as ‘heroes’ and ‘sexy firemen’ by female residents, which, understandably, puts a number of male residents somewhat on the defensive. Further, this is inextricably linked to stereotypical views of what fire fighting is about, and as such, to emergency response rather than to community intervention. The view that residents hold of fire fighters is also linked to how they view themselves within their community, and this is greatly dependent both on how they see their community (and how they judge others) but also at what stage of their life they are at. Neighbourhoods and the fire service are not static entities, and residents engage with them in different ways at different times, including in differing day to day circumstances. Whilst much of this discussion of the relationship between residents and the fire service starts to address the roots of hostility, for example through the culture of communities which is suspicious of outsiders, there are a number of more specific attributes which exacerbate the situation. As discussed above, residents are often suspicious of outsiders, including outside agencies, and as such, the fire service are immediately also the objects of suspicion. This cycle deteriorates as fire fighters become more involved in community work and are seen as adjuncts of other, interfering, services. This is particularly likely to be the case where residents are either unaware of their community roles, or think that they should not be engaged in this way. As discussed above, the sexualised view of fire fighters by a number of female participants in the focus groups sets the scene for male residents, already alienated in a number of ways (Campbell 1993, Nayak 2006), to be far from welcoming to fire fighters. This is perpetuated by the view of many participants that fire fighters are representative of authority, whether in symbolic function or physical role, for example putting out bonfires. This sense of intrusion does not just extend to those on the fringes of society, but to many residents aggrieved by constant sirens and the like. Problems such as these are seen as endemic in these neighbourhoods, even, perhaps particularly, by those who otherwise are happy there. This idea of competing images of neighbourhood feeds particularly into the use of social identity approaches in this area. There was a degree of contention (as would be expected) over what constitutes a good neighbourhood, and what makes good neighbours. Whilst it was deemed acceptable that this was hammered out by residents, it was a different matter when ‘outsiders’ attempted to impose their own views. This was as true for me as for representatives of other agencies, including the fire service, although it did not prevent participants from passing judgement on my own neighbourhood. Elements from social identity approaches were apparent in any number of discussions within the focus groups. For example, participants spoke animatedly about minute distinctions and differentiations in locality, resulting in a complicated and interlocking series of microgeographies, both of their neighbourhoods and others. This was not accepted passively, with delineation of neighbourhood being played with in quite a sophisticated manner, dependent on the circumstances and need. As such, neighbourhood linked implicitly to self esteem and self representation, but again, neither passively, nor straightforwardly. There was also a strong level of judgement about the ‘sort of people’ who experience emergencies, and how they are different to other householders. In terms of the engagement mechanisms the fire service already use, these were viewed in a variety of ways, suggesting at best, patchy effectiveness. Many participants only associated the fire service with emergency responses, and further, some felt that they ought not to be doing anything else. A lack of visibility in the community was cited as a particular problem, but again, this is not straightforward, as the more contact people have with any service, the more opportunities they have for disgruntlement. In this chapter, I have presented the analysis of data collected through my focus group study in a number of communities in Bristol. This builds on the work presented in the previous chapter where I examined how fire fighters create and maintain their identity and how they distinguish themselves from the communities they serve. In the following chapter, I will present data from the final study, during which I looked at the interaction between fire fighters and residents in a community and a household context. Download 0.87 Mb. Share with your friends:
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