IMPACTS OF POLICE SUBCULTURE ON OFFICERS

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Canadian police subculture’s impacts on the daily lives of police officers: A review

Julian O. Heald
j0419136
Bachelor of Law Enforcement Studies, Justice and Public Safety Division, School of
Criminal Justice and Security, Justice Institute of British Columbia

Author Note
Portions of these findings were presented as a poster at the 2025 Applied Research Day
at the Justice Institute of British Columbia, New Westminster, British Columbia, Canada.
This paper was completed for LAWS-4003: Research Project, instructed by Kelsea
Perry synchronously at the New Westminster campus. This paper is 6,999 words and was
submitted on March 30th, 2025.
A tremendous amount of thanks is given to Raymond Hsia, my friend and student at
the University of British Columbia. This project would not have been possible without his help.

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Abstract
Police services have strong subcultures that permeate their social structures. Previous
literature on Canadian police subcultures focuses on specific facets thereof, with researchers
attempting to measure the existence and prevalence of the niche they are investigating.
However, no known studies demonstrate how all these factors combined affect the overall
experience of a career as a police officer, which is what inspires this paper’s research
question: what are the career-long impacts of police subculture on police officers?.
Combining the constructivist worldview with a qualitative approach, this research aims to
consolidate the available literature into one comprehensive review. Data was collected from
nineteen peer-reviewed scholarly journal articles, extrapolated and analyzed to answer the
research question using secondary data analysis. This study found that Canadian police
officers have a myriad of unwritten social rules and expectations stemming from the need to
continually prove one’s masculinity both on and off the job. The requirement to conform to
traditional norms and provide the police service with unconditional loyalty, even at the
expense of one’s own family life, plays a significant negative role in the work-life balance of
officers. Over time, these factors contribute to occupational stress injuries, which can lead to
poor mental health outcomes, including depression and post-traumatic stress disorder. The
findings of this study fill an important gap in the literature by providing valuable insight into
how poor factors in police subculture interconnect and compound each other. Future studies
could examine how these outcomes affect visible and sexual minorities, which this study
identified as lacking in contemporary research.

Keywords: police subculture, gender inequality, masculinity contest culture, work-life
balance, mental health, occupational stress injuries, police leadership

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Table of contents
Abstract……………………………………………………………………………………… 2
Canadian police subculture’s impacts on the daily lives of police officers: A review………. 5
Background……………………………………………………………………………… 5
Purpose of study and research question.………………………………………………… 6
Scope of the study…..………………………………………………………………….... 7
Literature review...…………………………………………………………………………. 7
‘A Boys’ Club’......................................………………………………………………… 7
Masculinity contest culture……….………………………………………………… 8
‘Incarcerating’ kinship………………..………………………………………………… 9
An aversion for help in mental health.…………………………………………………11
The Leader’s ship….………………...………………………………………………... 12
Methods………..……………………………………………………………………………. 13
Research design..….………………...………………………………………………... 13
Philosophical worldview….………...………………………………………………... 14
Data collection…….………………...………………………………………………... 14
Inclusion and exclusion criteria….………………………………………………. 14
Article review and abstract selection.……………………………………………. 15
Ethical considerations…….………...………………………………………………... 16
Results………..……………………………………………………………………………. 17
An unequal career…………………...…………………………………………………17
A work-life imbalance..………………..……………………………………………... 19
Stewarding change………………….…………………………………………………21
Discussion……..……………………………………………………………………………. 23
Strengths of the research data………………………….………………………………25

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Weaknesses of the data and limitations of the research…………..…………………... 26
Recommendations...…………………………………………………………………………. 27
For police services……...…………...…………………………………………………27
For future research………………......………………………………………………... 28
Conclusion……...……………………………………………………………………………. 29
References…...……...………………………………………………………………………... 32
Appendix……….…….………………………………………………………………………. 36

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Canadian police subculture’s impacts on the daily lives of police officers: A review
Background
Whereas police services are formally governed by institutions, they are also
informally governed by themselves. Police subculture runs deep in the social environment of
the police department (Bikos, 2024; Rawski & Workman-Stark, 2018; MacAlister, 2004;
Sanders et al., 2022). As institutions charged with the duty of protecting good from evil, a
sense of gallantry is evoked inasmuch as it is implied. The police are seen as the protectors of
society, and as such, police officers are expected to fill that role. The culture police officers
develop amongst themselves is based on this premise. Consequently, police officers create
expectations for each other, ranging from a passing judgment to a deal-breaking norm or even
rites of passage (Bikos, 2024; Campeau, 2015; MacAlister, 2004; Silvestri, 2017). Some
components of police subculture have also contributed to the systemic oppression of minority
peoples in Canada (Bikos, 2024). Indeed, police services in Canada—and North America in
general—have historically been populated by white men (Bikos, 2024; Murray, 2021;
Sanders et al., 2022; Silvestri, 2017; Workman-Stark, 2021b).
Although police services today are much more multicultural, the histories of
oppression are linked to a still-present facet of police subculture: the intersectionality of
white supremacy and hypermasculine heteronormativity (Bikos, 2024). In other words, the
traditions and customs developed by police officers in a past time when white men were the
sole demographic still permeate the complex social structures that make up the police
department (Bikos, 2024; MacAlister, 2004; Rigaux & Cunningham, 2021). Police officers
from all backgrounds and demographics are expected to fit the moulds created by their
predecessors, and in some departments, non-compliance with traditions and norms risks
hostile treatment from co-workers (Bikos, 2024; Murray, 2021; Sanders et al., 2022;
Workman-Stark, 2021b). These adversities within police services highlight the need for

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difficult conversations to be had in order to effect meaningful changes from within, lest we
see the furtherance of oppression and discrimination against both rank-and-file police officers
and members of the general populace.
Purpose of study and research question
Current literature evaluating police subculture is neither limited nor in opulence. With
that said, contemporary research has focused more on specific aspects of police subculture in
order to evaluate the existence of certain phenomena. Social structures are complex
(McCulloh & Carley, 2020), allowing researchers many researchable opportunities. As police
services play an instrumental role in the fabric of our society, the informal social structures
that govern them will naturally significantly influence how the police serve their
communities. However, most research focuses on specific, narrow topics regarding police
subculture. These topics include the effects of police subculture on women officers,
organizational behaviours, mental health, the “us versus them” phenomenon, et cetera. There
is, however, a gap in the literature on the “bigger picture,” so to speak.
Police subculture is known to exist; a considerable amount of research speaks to its
existence and the multitude of ways it can affect a police officer’s life (Bikos, 2024; Murray,
2021; Sanders et al., 2022; Silvestri, 2017; Workman-Stark, 2021b). But how does police
subculture affect the personal and professional lives of police officers throughout their
careers? How do these multitude of factors previously researched all tie into the overall
experience of being a career police officer? Many police officers enjoy their work (Rigaux &
Cunningham, 2021; Sytsma & Piza, 2020), so is their job so enjoyable that it outweighs the
negatives perpetuated by police subculture? My research seeks to understand how police
subculture guides and moulds the personal and professional lives of police officers
throughout their careers. Just as there are negatives to police subculture, there are likewise

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positives. My study will consolidate this information and provide a comprehensive qualitative
review of the ordinary, quotidian police officer career experience in a police subculture.
Scope of the study
With an ever-increasing scrutiny of Canadian police services, my study will aim to
provide a more insightful view of the lives of Canadian police officers. I will engage
secondary research articles to extrapolate and analyze themes, patterns, and specific examples
of experiences from police officers. As with any workplace, police services have an
organizational culture that affects how police officers interact with their co-workers,
stakeholders, and the general public. This study will focus on the social intricacies at play
with these aforementioned relationships as a consequence of police subculture. Due to time
constraints, this study will be limited to secondary research analysis only.
Literature review
A ‘Boys’ Club’
The most prevalent and widespread theme in the reviewed literature is police
subcultures’ strong hypermasculine disposition (MacAlister, 2004; Murray, 2021; Sanders et
al., 2022; Silvestri, 2017; Workman-Stark, 2025). Hypermasculinity in police subculture is
nothing new, with decades of literature supporting this fact (MacAlister, 2004; Silvestri,
2017). Silvestri (2017) posits in her paper that masculinity in policing is akin to a cultus
environment whereby men uphold their superiority by discriminating the meanings of
masculinity and femininity from each other. Similarly, Murray (2021) asserts that police
officers ‘do’ gender in their organizations. The social frameworks of gender are
institutionalized, and police officers action their masculine and feminine identities to either
promote, maintain, or defy gender inequalities.
How gender is actioned depends on the organization or culture. Silvestri (2017)
believes that men use (do) the masculine gender to apply strict hegemonic norms as a means

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of control. These manifest themselves through overt physical aggression, an idealization of
the ‘perfect’ macho police officer, and uncompromising loyalty to the organization
(MacAlister, 2004; Murray, 2021; Silvestri, 2017). This is consistent with Sanders et al.’s
(2022) study, who describe this exclusionary cultus as a ‘boys club,’ and they argue that the
aforementioned gendered separation has created both a fraternity and sorority within police
organizational culture. The boy’s club forces less-masculine officers to establish their
masculinity and prove their worth as police officers. Workman-Stark (2025) contends that
this can cause “identity strain” (Workman-Stark, 2025, p. 87)—which is the breakdown of
one’s self-image in an organization—to those who are perceived as less masculine, such as
women.
Masculinity Contest Culture
A sub-theme identified in the literature is a culture of masculinity contest (Buhrig,
2023; Rawski & Workman-Stark, 2018; Workman-Stark, 2021a; Workman-Stark, 2021b).
The boys' club's expectation of less-masculine officers to prove their worth is an example of
Masculinity Contest Culture, which Xie and Zheng (2023) define as a corporate culture
rooted in a form of competitive masculinity wherein those who are not perceived as
‘masculine enough’ must continually prove their masculinity to those who are the ‘most’
masculine (Xie & Zheng, 2023; Buhrig, 2023). Rawski and Workman-Stark (2018)
conducted research into the effects of masculinity contest culture on the general well-being of
police officers and found that it negatively impacted their personal lives and their interactions
with their organization. This is consistent with Workman-Stark’s (2021b) research, which
found a direct correlation between the level of impact masculinity contest culture has on
individuals and the level of harassment and bullying experienced. However, Workman-Stark
(2021a) suggests that initiatives undertaken by organizations—such as police services—to
mitigate the effects of masculinity contest culture can negate such effects.

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While Workman-Stark (2021a) does not offer any specific remedies, Buhrig (2023)
believes that further research and understanding of the effects of masculinity contest culture
can provide a framework for its dismantling. Buhrig’s (2023) study, too, found negative
outcomes for police officers’ mental health as a result of masculinity contest culture,
including worsened post-traumatic stress disorder symptoms “as the work environment
discourages help-seeking behaviour, promotes a mental-health-related stigma, and decreases
social support between colleagues” (p. 751). The findings found in this theme showcase the
disparagement that those who are less masculine face, including the need to maintain a façade
of emotional stoicism where displays of emotion or compassion below the tough, strong, and
brave hero designation are not accepted (Rawski & Workman-Stark, 2018). Studies such as
Workman-Stark (2021a) and Buhrig (2023) demonstrate that masculinity contest culture can
eventually be neutralized, with such an outcome being exigent for the well-being of women
and LGBTQ+ police officers (Sanders et al., 2022; Couto, 2018).
‘Incarcerating’ kinship
A prominent theme in the reviewed literature is the familial environment instilled by
the police subculture and how it affects the personal family lives of police officers (Bikos,
2024; Campeau, 2019; Duxbury et al., 2021; MacAlister, 2004; Workman-Stark, 2021b;
Workman-Stark, 2025). In Canadian police services, sworn police officers are informally
known as ‘members,’ which implies an exclusive association with the policing organization
(Bikos, 2024). MacAlister (2004) attributes identity with policing as a policing identity.
Indeed, being a new recruit in a police service involves some form of socialization or hazing
(Bikos, 2024; MacAlister, 2004; Workman-Stark, 2025). MacAlister (2004) argues that
police work is isolating for a police officer. This is due to multiple factors, such as long and
irregular shift patterns, including overnight shifts, and the general public’s fundamental lack

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of understanding of the true horrors police officers frequently witness and experience on the
job.
MacAlister (2004) argues that these factors encourage camaraderie among police
officers as they can share their on-the-job experiences with each other and receive empathy
and understanding in a way non-police officers cannot do. However, in her study on how
personal identity interplays with the policing career, Workman-Stark (2025) suggests that
attempting to juggle the policing identity with one’s personal identity leads to worse worklife balance outcomes. Workman-Stark (2025) further notes that police officers struggle with
social alienation, something which has been exacerbated by recent high-profile incidents,
such as the killing of George Floyd (p. 90). In contrast, Duxbury et al. (2021) conducted
quantitative data analysis on a survey administered in 2016, whereby they explored the
challenges police officers face in balancing their work lives with their family lives. The
authors found that police officers who encumber themselves with their work or familial
obligations report worse outcomes regarding stress and maintaining a healthy work-life
balance. Pressures from organizational cultures are likewise mentioned.
The literature also identifies an intersection between the themes of hypermasculinity’s
need for conformity and the theme of an incarcerating familial environment. In WorkmanStark’s (2021b) mixed-methods investigation into masculinity contest culture’s consequences
on police officers’ personal and professional lives, respondents noted significant challenges
associated with pressures to perform due to masculinity contest culture’s expectation of
conformity. Police officers found it increasingly difficult to manage their personal lives as
they began to collapse due to the pressures of their professional lives.
The requirement from masculinity contest culture that police officers must ‘conform
or be seen as too weak’ contributes significantly to the interference with their family lives,
which is also a key finding of Duxbury et al. (2021). Conformity as a feature of police

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subculture is further argued by Bikos (2024), who surveyed 727 police officers across Canada
regarding their experiences of being compelled into conforming to the expectations of
organizational culture and its formal and informal leaders. Thus, the use of the word
‘incarcerating’ in this theme is meant in the figurative sense and in the literal sense, too, at
least emotionally: police officers are ‘stuck’ in a culture that holds them tight, and attempting
to break free can make the grip tighter. These results indicate that while many officers will
describe their relationships with their colleagues as akin to family (Campeau, 2019), a long
and successful career in law enforcement is contingent on conforming to traditional norms
(Bikos, 2024). A common limitation of the above studies, however, is the lack of discussion
on mental health outcomes.
An aversion for help in mental health
Another theme identified in the literature is police officers' general aversion toward
seeking help for mental health (Buhrig, 2023; Burns & Buchanan, 2020; Cohen et al., 2019).
Historically, seeking help for mental health has had poor outcomes in police subculture as it
displays the antithesis of a strong warrior who can persevere through any hardship (Buhrig,
2023). Burns and Buchanan (2020) corroborate this fact, with police officers responding in
their study that police subculture expects them not to allow emotions to get in the way of
their duties. When in the middle of a traumatic scene, emotions must be pressed down and
ignored. After the fact, no one wants to hear how one feels about what they have witnessed.
These findings are reinforced by Cohen et al. (2019) in their review, who further add that the
police subculture has, for a long time, been apprehensive about police officers caring for their
mental health and attempting to seek help.
This theme, too, has an intersection with hypermasculinity. Workman-Stark (2022)
explored in her study, combining surveys and interviews with police officers, that the image
of the ‘ideal masculine warrior’ forces police officers into hiding their mental health struggles

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due to the threat of social exclusion or harassment. Since masculinity is the overarching
conformative requirement of police subculture, any actions taken to remedy one’s emotional
wellness are an inherent sign of weakness. One police officer portrays this kind of thinking in
Workman-Stark’s (2022) study: “Knock off all the political bullshit. [...] Toughen up guys.
We don’t need any more LGBTQ, harassment, wellness or sensitivity training. [...] We
signed up to bust bad guys” (p. 1249). Buhrig (2023) further finds that masculinity contest
culture likewise intersects with poorer mental health outcomes and heightened stigma
surrounding seeking care for mental health.
The leader’s ship
A pronounced theme in the literature is police leadership’s involvement in the police
subculture (Bikos, 2024; Cohen et al., 2019; MacAlister, 2004; Murray, 2021; Rigaux &
Cunningham, 2021; Silvestri, 2017; Workman-Stark, 2021c). MacAlister (2004) argues that
police subculture is not monolithic across all ranks of the organization; instead, police
officers in leadership have their own subcultures, which exist in concert with the subcultures
of front-line police officers. Police leaders have subcultural expectations imposed on them,
too (Silvestri, 2017; Murray, 2021), and multiple articles suggest that police leaders play a
direct role in shaping police subculture, for good or for bad (Cohen et al., 2019; Murray,
2021; Rigaux & Cunningham, 2021; Workman-Stark, 2021c). Cohen et al. (2019) believe
that police leaders accomplish this by virtue of their leadership; in other words, low-ranking
police officers toe the line they set. This is expanded on by Rigaux and Cunningham (2021),
who suggest that police organizations whose leaders move for progressive changes see a
direct positive effect on how front-line police officers interact with their communities.
These findings can explain why police subculture has been so unwilling to change in
any way in the past few decades (Murray, 2021; White & Robinson, 2014). These findings
also appear to contradict the aforementioned research into hypermasculinity, which holds the

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consensus that it is the most masculine men who wield the power of internal influence.
However, the literature suggests that leadership and hypermasculinity are intertwined (Bikos,
2024; Murray, 2021; Workman-Stark, 2021a). Just as women have faced challenges in
joining police forces, they face similar difficulties in ascending the echelons of police
leadership (Murray, 2021). Furthermore, decisions made as managers, Murray (2021) found,
are not taken as seriously by women as they are by men. Bikos (2024) claims that women do
join leadership positions as a consequence of hypermasculinity, engaging in the furtherance
of proving their masculinity. It is believed, however, that police leadership is making efforts
to change the old ways of doing things, and institutional change will occur in time (Silvestri,
2017; Murray, 2021).
Methods
Research design
This study will analyze qualitative data from sources that collected primary data; thus,
the research design will involve secondary data analysis only, as there was not enough time to
obtain approbation from an ethics review board for primary research methods. While this
study will not be a full-fledged meta-analysis, I will incorporate its philosophy of
consolidating various studies on different niches to provide a comprehensive review.
Philosophical worldview
This study will rely heavily on the constructivist worldview. This worldview is
described by Creswell and Creswell (2018) as emphasizing the lived experiences of research
participants. Researchers who take on this worldview seek out the subjective; in other words,
one’s “reality” is what each individual makes of their experiences. The constructivist leans on
the shared experiences of all research subjects to form a greater image of the phenomenon
they are trying to explain. In constructivism, there is no “one size fits all” explanation for
phenomena (Creswell & Creswell, 2018). In order to extrapolate the most possible

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experiences from research participants, taking a broad approach is more effective in terms of
understanding the meaning and the complex histories that affect the study phenomena.
Given the diverse context in which police operate—both in terms of the work they do,
where they work and whom they work with—it is expected and understood that there will be
variances in police officer career experience depending on factors such as geographical
locality and the demographic makeups of the police service and the communities they serve.
Police officers are human beings and are each uniquely affected by the ways they are treated
by others and institutions. By considering all points of view from all walks of life, the
constructivist worldview can interpret individual experiences and paint the “bigger picture.”
The constructivist worldview, then, is best suited for this study.
Data collection
I collected data using the JIBC library function, which is provided by EBSCOhost,
which contains over thirty databases, and Google Scholar, an open-source database. Search
terms using boolean operators were utilized to obtain the most relevant search results (See
Table A1).
Inclusion and exclusion criteria
As shown in Table A1, using different terms and adjusting boolean search operators
generates a varied amount of returned search results. Due to the myriad of articles generated,
it would be impractical to sift through all results (as an example, 1,392 search results are
equivalent to about 46 pages of 30 results each). These results include scholarly peerreviewed journals, editorials, periodicals, books, news articles, magazines, and more. This
research will focus on primary data obtained using the scientific method, such as scholarly
articles that have undergone a peer-review process.
Furthermore, this paper focuses on the Canadian police subculture. Whereas police
subcultures in the United States and Canada are highly similar (MacAlister, 2004; Thomas &

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Tufts, 2020), there is enough literature on Canadian subculture only (see Table A2).
Therefore, it is not necessary to use literature from the United States. For my revised search
results, I utilized the same query terms with the following modifications: I added “Canada”
(and variations thereof [see Table A2]) to each search query; I limited search results to
include only scholarly, peer-reviewed journal articles, and I excluded any material that was
published before 2015. These measures ensure that only high-quality, current, relevant, and
trustworthy material is available for selection.
During abstract reviews, it was noticed that many articles which study police
subculture did not include the words “police culture/subculture/organizational culture” in
their title or keywords. There were also some results which were initially screened out but
were found to include topics relevant to police culture, such as the implications of gender and
hypermasculinity in police subculture. Therefore, any resultant article which studied an
aspect of police subculture in a considerable way was also included, provided they met the
quality standards outlined above.
Abstract review and article selection
The JIBC EBSCOhost and Google Scholar services sort search results based on
‘relevance,’ an unknown algorithm. These services generally display articles with titles,
keywords, and words in abstracts that match the search terms first. These search terms are
also displayed in bold letters to allow for a more rapid selection process. As shown in Table
A2, there were still many resultant articles which had to be examined. I conducted two passes
of the results: first, articles with matching search terms (identified by bold letters) in the
titles, abstracts, or keywords were selected for an abstract review. If the abstract clearly
demonstrated that the research paper examined police subculture or studied a relationship
between a phenomenon and police subculture, the article was selected for a full review.

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The second pass expanded the inclusion criterion slightly, allowing for articles with a
phenomenon or theme identified in the articles included in the first pass or with keywords not
associated with one another (such as ‘police’ in the title and ‘organizational culture’ in the
keywords or abstract, and combinations thereof). Examples of such articles are Campeau
(2019), Edgelow et al. (2022), Rawski and Workman-Stark (2018), and Workman-Stark
(2021b). After a full review, articles were selected based on the following criteria: The
investigation studied police subculture and provided results which could help answer the
research question; were peer-reviewed, scholarly journal articles, were published in 2015 or
later and were based on Canadian literature only.
Ethical considerations
This study will not collect primary data. I will not have any interactions with any
human participants. Since this study will comprise only secondary data analysis, there are
very few ethical concerns. The data included in this study will be collected through academic
sources only. However, one ethical concern is the potential for bias in data collection. To
mitigate bias, I will select articles based on objective factors regarding their relevance,
including whether search terms appear in the title, abstract, or keywords and whether the
abstract clearly demonstrates that the study focuses on Canadian police subculture in a
significant way.
Results
An unequal career
Police subculture has created a gendered environment which has enacted strict
expectations on its members (Murray, 2021; Sanders et al., 2022; Workman-Stark, 2025). In
Murray’s (2021) qualitative analysis of the gendered policing environment, there is a distinct
dichotomy between how male and female police officers perceive and experience internal
sexism. Whereas women in policing must adapt and assimilate into a hypermasculine culture,

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the men are apparently oblivious to the inequalities they potentially uphold. Murray (2021)
further finds in consequence that women in policing develop personalized methods in order
to navigate their gendered working environment, such as networking with each other outside
of work. Or, for those in higher-ranking positions, commanding their authority as would a
man in a paramilitary environment to discipline their lower-ranked officers. However,
Workman-Stark (2025) finds that women in policing will, regardless, have issues reconciling
their ‘police identity’ and their identity as women. Even when policewomen do their job well,
they are criticized for not doing it to the masculine standards of the subculture, which further
creates doubt and uncertainty for women attempting to harmonize their two identities.
Discrimination in police subculture is not exclusive to those who are not male. Visible
minorities have likewise faced disapproval and discrimination from Canadian police
subculture (Rigaux & Cunningham, 2021). According to Rigaux and Cunningham (2021),
this has created social obstacles for visible minorities seeking to join a police force. In their
study, many respondent police officers discussed the prevalence of anti-diversity sentiments
among front-line level police officers. While there are indeed more racially diverse members
of police forces today, older and more traditional ways of thinking are still prevailing in
police subculture. According to the authors, this has made recruitment processes less
accessible to visible minorities. Respondents in the study believe that police recruiters'
cultural awareness should be improved to attract more talent.
Furthermore, Rigaux and Cunningham (2021) found that some recruitment practices
implemented to recruit more visible minorities have unintentionally created a countereffect:
In the pursuit of more diversity in policing, some police services may have lowered their
recruitment standards to make policing more accessible to them, described as ‘tokenism’—
hiring based on one’s race rather than merit (p. 465). These findings provide unique insight
into the flawed ways police subculture attempts to distance itself from its traditional ‘white’

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roots. Instead of engaging with and in minority communities to encourage a more natural
form of recruitment, police services unintentionally make minority candidates feel less valued
through lowered recruitment standards (Rigaux & Cunningham, 2021).
Rawski and Workman-Stark (2018) and Workman-Stark (2021b) both make the case
that masculinity contest cultures in Canadian police services have substantial implications for
the daily lives of police officers. Rawski and Workman-Stark (2018) believe that the more
preponderant a masculinity contest culture is, the less effective training programs designed to
reduce its effects are. The authors emphasize training programs on diversity, inclusion and
sexual harassment. Furthermore, as evidenced by Workman-Stark (2021b), many police
officers in a masculinity contest culture see these training programs as extensions of
feminism. These findings demonstrate how challenging it can be to attempt the dismantling
of a masculinity contest culture. Sexual harassment is particularly problematic since it is
women who are the majoritarian victims (Khoury et al., 2025). The more the need for change
is ignored, the worse the problem can become, and this change, according to participants
from Khoury et al. (2025), must be extensive and radical.
A work-life imbalance
Another characteristic of the hypermasculine subculture is its demand for
unconditional loyalty (Workman-Stark, 2021b). Unfortunately, my findings suggest this can
cause police officers to put their work before their families (Agocs et al., 2015; Duxbury et
al., 2021; Pettigrew & Duncan, 2021; Workman-Stark, 2021b). Policing is a mentally
demanding job with long shifts, which is a burden for those who are also parents (Agocs et
al., 2015; Duxbury et al., 2021). In Agocs et al.’s (2015) study, mothers describe the
hardships they experience when their job keeps them away from their children; for instance,
one mother shared how her daughter found her inconsistent work schedule challenging since
the mother’s time at home was unpredictable. Along a comparable vein, another mother

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described her child’s disappointment when she gets called out to work. These findings,
according to Agocs et al. (2015), leave parents feeling “exhausted, inadequate, and guilty” (p.
275). However, pressure from the subculture makes it challenging to reconcile balancing
family with work, especially in a masculinity contest culture, as doing so is a sign of
weakness (Workman-Stark, 2021b). Thus, parents—especially those with younger children—
feel stuck between a rock and a hard place. On the one hand, parents want to be there for their
children; on the other hand, non-conforming to hypermasculine expectations of putting one’s
work above all can attract unwanted scrutiny and harassment (Duxbury et al., 2021;
Workman-Stark, 2021b).
The work-life and family-life balance outcomes for police officers demonstrate a
negative trend when the work becomes too much (Duxbury et al., 2021; Duxbury & Halinski,
2018). Duxbury and Halinski (2018) identified correlations between encumbering work
demands and overall stress, with pressures from police organizational culture being a key
contributor. The authors believe that when work demands increase, the ability of parent
officers to meet their home life demands decreases, which causes added stress. In some cases,
family life interferes with work, leading to a vicious cycle. This added pressure will naturally
cause a decrease in work performance, which, when noticed by police subculture, can lead to
an unsupportive environment, adding further amounts of stress to the point of overload
(Duxbury & Halinski, 2018). Interestingly, Duxbury and Halinski (2018) found in their study
that men and women experience these stressors differently based on the factors they are
burdened by. For example, the effects of family interfering with work are more prominent
amongst female officers, whereas males experience more stress as a result of having multiple
simultaneous work assignments.
Duxbury et al. (2021) explored the degree to which police subculture affects the
aforementioned factors and found a direct correlation: When police subculture is supportive

IMPACTS OF POLICE SUBCULTURE ON OFFICERS

20

of officers’ family lives and commitments, officers feel reduced stress. A supportive
workplace culture likewise reduces the effects of masculinity contest culture and curtails the
effects of gender inequalities. However, Duxbury et al. (2021) clarify that this only applies to
situations where family life interferes with work. This means that police subculture, while it
can be supportive of officers’ families, still expects officers to prioritize their work first.
Police subculture also appears to discriminate against male officers when it comes to family,
according to Duxbury et al. (2021), since family obligations are viewed in a gendered
fashion—in other words, police subculture sees family as a woman’s responsibility and men
involving themselves in familial responsibilities are acting contrary to traditional gender roles
(Duxbury et al., 2021; Rawski & Workman-Stark, 2018).
Pettigrew and Duncan (2021) support this finding in their research on parental leave
use by male police officers, where many respondents viewed women as the only reasonable
parental leave users. Pettigrew and Duncan’s (2021) paper appears to bridge the gap left by
Duxbury et al. (2021) and Duxbury and Halinski (2018), providing direct and concrete
qualitative examples of police officers in the subculture expecting men to put their work
before their families. Some respondents of Pettigrew and Duncan’s (2021) research do
support paternal leave, with examples such as supporting the post-partum mother and
potentially reduced social problems due to fathers’ lack of involvement in the child’s life.
The authors found that while most police leaders disapproved of paternal leave,
around 55% of line-level officers interviewed demonstrated more positive outlooks. This
finding may indicate shifting outlooks or perspectives on men engaging in conduct that has
historically been more ‘feminine;’ however, Pettigrew and Duncan (2021) point out that men
may still be reluctant to take paternal leave if it means their position will go unfilled and their
team will become disadvantaged as a result: “When men take leave, it is seen as not
masculine and a breach of gender norms in the eyes of some coworkers and managers and,

IMPACTS OF POLICE SUBCULTURE ON OFFICERS

21

per role theory, these men may face backlash or disapproval” (p. 2234). Although, unlike
their American counterparts, men are guaranteed the same parental leave as women in
Canada. This makes the parental leave discussion important in the Canadian context, as the
employer does not have a say in its use by an officer.
Stewarding change
The above-mentioned factors of gender inequalities, hypermasculine expectations to
conform, and poor work-life and family-life outcomes are all examples of potential
operational stress injuries (OSI) (Chan & Andersen, 2020; Cohen et al., 2019), which Chan
and Andersen (2020) define as cognitive or emotional stressors endured on a consistent basis
throughout a protracted amount of time. Chan and Andersen (2020) found in their study that
organizational stressors (i.e. hypermasculine police subculture) have a possible link to
symptoms of depression. This can be potentially explained by the fact that hypermasculinity
and masculinity contest culture in police subculture have attributed an overwhelmingly
negative connotation to finding help for one’s mental health (Workman-Stark, 2022).
Since police officers feel compelled to maintain their warrior-like façade full of
vigour and strength, developing poor personal coping mechanisms is common (Burns &
Buchanan, 2020; Cohen et al., 2019). This is further exacerbated by the fear of being seen as
stressed or mentally unwell since this, too, is a sign of weakness and impotence in a
masculinity contest culture (Edgelow et al., 2022; Rawski & Workman-Stark, 2018). Indeed,
Buhrig’s (2023) study found that masculinity contest cultures in policing are a direct cause of
higher stress and worsened work-life balance experiences, potentially leading to posttraumatic stress disorder. The induction of stress onto police officers through masculinity
contest culture—whether it be the pressure of conforming to hypermasculine norms or trying
to prove one’s masculinity on a daily basis—is a prime example of organizational stressors.

IMPACTS OF POLICE SUBCULTURE ON OFFICERS

22

These results, combined with the constant fear of social exclusion, leave little doubt as to
masculinity contest culture’s positive association with OSIs.
There are a considerable number of strategies identified by the literature that police
officers can employ to combat OSIs and poor mental health outcomes (Burns & Buchanan,
2020; Cohen et al., 2019; Edgelow et al., 2022; Knaak, 2019). Edgelow et al. (2022)
discovered in their review that officers who work in a supportive environment—that is, a
working environment absent of the fear of being viewed as an incapable or incompetent
officer due to stigmatization and the ability to speak freely of their mental health stressors—
experience more positive mental health outcomes. Police officers can be dispatched to a
traumatic scenario with very little notice, and Edgelow et al. (2022) believe that when police
officers have supportive colleagues and leadership, they will feel more comfortable and
confident going into these scenarios. A participant from Sanders et al.’s (2022) study
provides an example of this, detailing that a strong camaraderie creates an atmosphere where
officers naturally desire to help and protect each other. Indeed, Burns and Buchanan (2020)
explored how changes in police subculture leading to a more open and supportive
environment are making accessing mental health help more encouraged. Furthermore, better
education regarding mental health and the effects of a policing career was likewise attributed
to improved mental health among police officers (Burns & Buchanan, 2020; Knaak et al.,
2019).
Knaak et al. (2019) studied the effectiveness of a program called Road to Mental
Readiness (R2MR), which is a “workshop-based intervention that was designed specifically
for first responder populations to reduce mental illness–related stigma, improve resiliency
skills, and encourage help seeking” (p. 31S). The authors discovered that the R2MR program
fostered positive discussions among a police service regarding mental health and accessing
support, with police leadership undertaking a critical stewardship role. Since police leaders

IMPACTS OF POLICE SUBCULTURE ON OFFICERS

23

play a crucial role in shaping and changing police subculture (Cohen et al., 2019; Murray,
2021; Rigaux & Cunningham, 2021; Workman-Stark, 2021c), their spearheading of a
program that aims to break down barriers and destigmatize discussions surrounding mental
health can compel significant, meaningful changes in the ways police subculture perceives
seeking mental health help and can contribute towards an environment with better, more
positive mental health outcomes (Burns & Buchanan, 2020; Cohen et al., 2019; Knaak,
2019).
Discussion
My research findings provide salient information regarding the everyday effects of
police subculture on officers in Canada, demonstrating the myriad factors weighing on
Canadian police officers. By analyzing secondary data, my study aimed to address a gap in
the literature whereby multiple studies explored a specific facet of police subculture by
combining them in an exhaustive review. The combination of quantitative, qualitative, and
mixed-method methodologies allowed me to draw these significant connections. For
example, the author Workman-Stark, in her multiple works (2021a, 2021b, 2021c, 2022,
2025), along with her work with Rawski (2018), focused explicitly on hypermasculinity in
police subculture and masculinity contest culture. Her work was paralleled or supported by
other works on hypermasculinity from Buhrig (2023), Murray (2021), and Sanders et al.
(2022). Rigaux and Cunningham (2021) focused on the recruitment experience for visible
minorities, and Duxbury et al. (2021) and Duxbury and Halinski (2018) placed their attention
on how police subculture affects work-life balance. Therefore, my research fills an important
gap in the literature, providing a comprehensive examination of how the different factors
interconnect with one another and affect the overall experience of a career as a police officer.
The ubiquitousness of hypermasculinity is prevalent across all identified themes in
my findings. Although much of the analyzed research does not identify hypermasculinity as a

IMPACTS OF POLICE SUBCULTURE ON OFFICERS

24

potential cause for a discovered phenomenon, it is clear from other research that the effects of
hypermasculinity in police subculture on officers are widespread (Bikos, 2024; Murray,
2021; Rawski & Workman-Stark, 2018; Sanders et al., 2022; Silvestri, 2017; WorkmanStark, 2021a; Workman-Stark, 2021b). Furthermore, the results demonstrate that police
officers interact with their subculture quotidianly. This is especially true for police officers
who are not white, not male, or not straight, with combinations thereof proving to be even
more burdensome. Moreover, the ways police subculture affects police officers at the
professional level appear to translate to personal lives (see Acogs et al., 2015; Duxbury et al.,
2021; Duxbury & Halinski, 2018). The pressure to conform to a masculinity contest culture
creates an environment where officers are afraid to prioritize their families so as not to appear
weak, are afraid to appear weak so as not to appear incompetent, and are afraid to appear
incompetent so as not to be socially excluded from the subculture.
Strengths of the research data
A majority of the collected data included in this study comprised of primary research
data. These included directed interviews (Agocs et al., 2015; Bikos, 2024; Burns &
Buchanan, 2020; Murray, 2021; Rigaux & Cunningham, 2021; Sanders et al., 2022;
Workman-Stark, 2025) and surveys (Buhrig, 2023; Chan & Andersen, 2020; Duxbury et al.,
2021; Duxbury & Halinski, 2018; Khoury, 2025; Pettigrew & Duncan, 2021; WorkmanStark, 2021a; Workman-Stark, 2021b). A significant strength of this study is the
extrapolation of primary data for analysis. All of the data included in the results of this study
underwent a strenuous peer-review process as a requirement for publishing, further
strengthening the credibility of the evidence. Another significant strength of this research is
the combination of multiple perspectives on police subculture and bringing them all together
in one meta-synthesized comprehensive review. These included perspectives on the breadth

IMPACTS OF POLICE SUBCULTURE ON OFFICERS

25

of hypermasculinity in police subculture, challenges on work-life balance, and how to
ameliorate mental health outcomes using novel training programs.
The focus on the qualitative approach proved effective in demonstrating these various
perspectives. Lastly, a significant strength of the research data is that most of the findings
come directly from the lived experiences and observations of police officers across Canada,
limiting the influence of outside perspectives. Since police subculture is endemic to police
officers, this study could have seen major limitations if observational data from non-police
officers had been included.
Weaknesses of the data and limitations of the research
Research data was sourced from studies throughout Canada. However, as I identified
previously, much of the research this study analyzes focuses on specific niches of police
subculture. Since many studies only sample one police department, many of the conclusions
drawn from the literature come from a minute number of people. Furthermore, the number of
research articles on police subculture in Canada is limited, meaning each individual research
article included is sampled from a specific locality. For example, Agocs et al.’s (2015) study
on the intersectionality of motherhood and policing was conducted in Ontario with only
sixteen participants. In contrast, Burns and Buchanan’s (2020) research was performed with
twenty RCMP officers in British Columbia’s Lower Mainland.
However, some other studies did utilize large sample sizes with participants working
in police agencies across the country (Bikos, 2024; Duxbury et al., 2021; Duxbury &
Halinski, 2018; Khoury et al., 2025; Knaak et al., 2019; Pettigrew & Duncan, 2021), which
would be a strength in terms of generalizing the data. It is, therefore, difficult to ascertain
whether a study conducted in one place would apply to a police subculture in another. These
research findings suggest that most police subcultures across Canada share the same
fundamental characteristics as those found in this study. Unless more comprehensive research

IMPACTS OF POLICE SUBCULTURE ON OFFICERS

26

is conducted across Canada, some specific outcomes—such as work-life balance or parenting
challenges—are difficult to establish as universal among police subcultures across Canada.
As with any study, this one has some notable limitations. Firstly, the time provided
was short in nature, which did not allow for the study of live human subjects. This study
could have benefited from the interviewing or surveying of police officers concerning the
themes hereinbefore identified in the literature review. This leads to another limitation, which
is the sole reliance on secondary data. Another limiting factor in this study was the inability
to access many of the resultant articles on JIBC’s EBSCOhost library function and on Google
Scholar. Thankfully, I was able to circumvent this restriction thanks to the help of a student at
the University of British Columbia who was able to use their access to provide me with the
majority of the research articles included in this paper; however, there was still a portion of
the resultant articles which remained inaccessible. There is also the possibility of bias during
the data selection methodology, which is another limitation. Despite the present limitations,
my research provides novel insights into the combined factors of police subculture and their
everyday effects on the personal and professional lives of police officers.
Recommendations
For police services
This study identified potential solutions to improve the quality of life of police
officers. As identified by multiple research articles, the role of the police leader is
instrumental in initiating and maintaining change in police subculture (Cohen et al., 2019;
Murray, 2021). I recommend police leaders identify areas within their subcultures that are not
working well and explore policy changes or programs to mitigate these. Police leaders should
review hiring and promotion processes to ensure that visible minorities, sexual minorities,
and women are not placed at a disadvantage due to discriminatory practices or traditions
instilled and maintained by police subcultures (Sanders et al., 2022; Rigaux & Cunningham,

IMPACTS OF POLICE SUBCULTURE ON OFFICERS

27

2021). Unfortunately, these discriminatory practices have caused minority individuals to
retire from internal competitions since they knew the odds were stacked against them
(Sanders et al., 2022).
Furthermore, police leaders should seek to dismantle hypermasculinity and
masculinity contest culture in their police services. Doing so could provide officers with an
environment where they feel safe and comfortable showing emotions historically associated
with ‘weakness’ (Edgelow et al., 2022). I also recommend that police services adopt
programs such as R2MR (Knaak et al., 2019) to provide police officers with more mental
health help resources. This can allow for the destigmatizing of showing unpleasant or
vulnerable emotions in the workplace, such as fear or stress. Knaak et al. (2019) believe that
the more widely programs such as R2MR are implemented, the more effective they are in
championing change within policing organizations and their subcultures. When police
officers are acutely aware of their biases, emotional maturity, and mental health, they can
subconsciously facilitate an environment where open discussions are welcomed and failures
are accepted.
For future research
This study could have benefited from the collection of qualitative primary research
data, namely interviews and survey data, consistent with the data collection methodologies of
literature investigating police subculture. Future research can contribute to this area of
research by further exploring the themes I have identified with human subjects to better
understand how these factors affect the everyday lives of police officers. Furthermore, there
is a need for more data from more diverse localities. If police subculture is to be fully
understood, its geographical differences should be thoroughly explored. We cannot expect
the subculture at the Burnaby RCMP to be identical to that of the Ottawa Police Service, for
example. Whereas recent studies have demonstrated unique perspectives and have exposed

IMPACTS OF POLICE SUBCULTURE ON OFFICERS

28

damnatory evidence against police subculture, many aspects thereof were discovered from
singular investigations with small sample sizes. Further study can benefit from wider-scale
research projects involving multiple stakeholders nationwide.
While comprehensive, this study has some knowledge gaps that future research can
fill. There was a lack of literature on how police subculture directly affects 2SLGBTQIA+
police officers. While conclusions thereof could be drawn from the literature on
hypermasculinity, I suggest future researchers explore this gap. Moreover, research on social
programs affecting mental health outcomes, such as R2MR, should be expanded. The
research conducted by Knaak et al. (2019) is specific to R2MR and is around six years old.
Since R2MR proved successful in the agencies that implemented it, variations of this
program or other programs, perhaps focusing on other mental health aspects, should be
studied to see if their widespread implementation can generate more positive mental health
outcomes among police officers in Canada.
Finally, there is a major gap in knowledge surrounding the effects of Canadian police
subculture on retention rates, visible minorities, and sexual minorities. Future research should
investigate the effects of police subculture on such variables. Future research can likewise
investigate intersectionalities between two or three of these variables. Rigaux and
Cunningham (2021) mention their intention to study the effects of police subculture on
retention rates of minority officers; however, their results did not mention it. Insensitivities
towards visible minorities in recruitment processes by police services may potentially extend
further than that and towards more minority groups, such as sexual minorities. I recommend
that future Canadian research explore these outcomes and their potential impacts on
community representation and trust.
Conclusion

IMPACTS OF POLICE SUBCULTURE ON OFFICERS

29

Society is ever-changing, and with progress occurring rapidly, police subcultures have
long been playing a game of ‘catch-up.’ Indeed, there are still myriad aspects of police
subculture still stuck in times past when police services were staffed exclusively with
heterosexual white men (Bikos, 2024). Decades of discriminatory traditions and practices
have long created an exclusionary environment for those who did not fit this profile, and
researchers have taken a keen interest in exploring the experiences of those who defied these
norms. With many novel paths to choose from, many studies examined specific niches of
police subculture, with studies building upon the last. However, an examination of how all
these different niches come together and compound against the overall experience of a career
in policing was sorely lacking. My study filled that gap using a qualitative approach by
conducting secondary article data analysis to provide this comprehensive review of police
subculture in Canada.
My study results reveal that police subculture is a profoundly gendered environment
caused by hypermasculine norms which run deep within its social structures (Murray, 2021;
Sanders et al., 2022). As a result, those who do not fit the idyllic image of the strong white
male police officer were subject to frequent forms of harassment and intimidation (WorkmanStark, 2021b; Workman-Stark, 2022). Prioritizing anything but one’s work—including
family—likewise ran the grave risk of social isolation, leading many officers to experience
poorer mental health outcomes (Duxbury et al., 2021; Duxbury & Halinski, 2018).
Thankfully, many police services are trying to change their ways, with some mental health
initiatives being proposed and implemented that have demonstrated an ability to effect
positive changes within police services (Knaak et al., 2019). I recommend that police services
across Canada adopt such mental health programming, and police leadership must be acutely
cognizant of the imperative role they play in spearheading positive reforms in police
subculture.

IMPACTS OF POLICE SUBCULTURE ON OFFICERS

30

Future researchers can likewise benefit from exploring the effectiveness of various
mental health programs in police services to aid in the furtherance of implementations
thereof. Lastly, the themes explored in this study should be examined in further detail among
more participants across Canada to deepen our knowledge and understanding of the breadth
of police subculture’s effect on our police officers. With more action and understanding, we
can lead the way to a place where police officers respect each other equally without
unrealistic hypermasculine norms to conform to and foster an environment of common
empathy, understanding, and compassion where no emotion is a ‘weakness.’

IMPACTS OF POLICE SUBCULTURE ON OFFICERS

31

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Appendix
Search query terms tables
Table A1
Initial search without inclusion or exclusion criteria
Search engine

Query terms

Query hits

JIBC (EBSCOhost)

Police AND subculture

JIBC (EBSCOhost): 1,447

Google Scholar

Google Scholar: 206,000

JIBC (EBSCOhost)

Police AND organizational

JIBC (EBSCOhost): 2,917

Google Scholar

culture

Google Scholar: 2,090,000

JIBC (EBSCOhost)

Police AND

JIBC (EBSCOhost): 1,392

Google Scholar

“organizational culture”

Google Scholar: 102,000

JIBC (EBSCOhost)

“Police culture”

JIBC (EBSCOhost): 2,237

Google Scholar

Google Scholar: 28,500

Note. The use of apostrophes as a boolean search operator will obtain search results that only
match all keywords contained within the apostrophes. The use of an asterisk ‘*’ as a boolean
search operator will obtain search results for any word or phrase that matches the word
adjacent to it.

IMPACTS OF POLICE SUBCULTURE ON OFFICERS

36

Table A2
Revised search with inclusion and exclusion criteria
Search engine

Query terms

Query hits

JIBC (EBSCOhost)

Police AND subculture

JIBC (EBSCOhost): 18

Google Scholar

AND ‘Canada+’

Google Scholar: 52,900

JIBC (EBSCOhost)

Police AND organizational

JIBC (EBSCOhost): 173

Google Scholar

culture AND ‘Canada+’

Google Scholar: 418,000

JIBC (EBSCOhost)

Police AND

JIBC (EBSCOhost): 93

Google Scholar

“organizational culture”

Google Scholar: 24,000

AND ‘Canada+’

JIBC (EBSCOhost)

“Police culture” AND

JIBC (EBSCOhost): 120

Google Scholar

‘Canada+’

Google Scholar: 6,280

Note. ‘Canada+’ incorporates the following: “Canada OR Canadian OR Canadians OR in
Canada.” This has been shortened to ‘Canada+’ in Table A2 to conserve space.