Modification of National Character: The Role of the Police in England.

The study of national character describes the observed or deduced motives and values dominant within a given society at a given time in a way little different from that in which a study in primitive law describes the legal norms and sanctions operative in a given society at a given time. This article seeks to explore the hypothesis that the national character of a society may be modified or transformed over a given period through the selection of personnel for institutions that are in constant contact with the mass of the population and in a somewhat superordinate position, in a position of some authority. The institution proposed to be examined in detail are the English police forces.