ABSTRACT
This chapter spotlights communication accommodation theory (CAT: see Giles, Coupland, & Coupland, 1991) – a longstanding framework (Gallois, Ogay, & Giles, 2005; Giles, 1973) that has been heralded as one of the most prominent in the social psychology of language (Tracy & Haspel, 2004) and one that has captured cross-disciplinary imaginations (Coupland & Jaworski, 1997). The theory has had a history of applications to an array of organizational contexts (e.g., Bourhis, 1991) and, herein, we add another exciting possibility, namely its relevance for a more incisive appreciation of understanding police–civilian relations. After a brief discussion about what images people hold of police officers, we introduce CAT with particular attention to its face and identity concerns, whilst illustrating throughout its applicability to law enforcement situations. Thereafter, we distil the theoretical essence of CAT down to four key principles, underscoring its potential for developing not only an innovative research agenda for the future, but also for suggesting new theoretical propositions to test in this applied domain.
