One more last working class hero

6.7. THOUGHTS ABOUT FURTHER RESEARCH
Looking at further possibilities for future research, it is clear that my deliberations about the gender label for a female
firefighter who passes the test as a good firefighter needs further investigation. This may involve looking at those range of
jobs, from blue-collar to white-collar, through which men describe their masculinity. Then it would be necessary to
identify if in the same environment women develop a similar human capital to the one that fits with men’s descriptions.
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There are at least two further areas in the fire service that could benefit from more research. The first concerns the
relationship between firefighters and officers and how this relationship forms into a competition in which firefighters and
officers are competing to ‘prove’ their masculinity in the same area. This research should have at least two aims: first, to
stop what is a damaging dispute and wasted effort over who controls the fire service. Second, it should look at what the
public wants, what they are prepared to pay for and then look for ways to achieve this. Such research should be guided by
findings here that it can be tempting to follow what officers’ think (because officers will make believe they hold power in
the fire service) and consider also what firefighters have to say (because firefighters are key players too). In fire service
terms, researchers may even have to acknowledge that much of what firefighters are doing is right. That firefighters’
struggle with officers may occur because officers’ belief that economic efficiency is what the public want is wrong.
Despite any arguments to the contrary the public is the primary stake holder in the fire service and they do not want a
smaller fire service. Equally as unthinkable, it may be that research should consider whether single tier entry promotion is
any longer the only way to manage the fire service.
The fire service will also benefit from further research to try and further identify the negative and positive attributes
associated with how firefighters construct, perpetuate and police their masculinity. It is no good just telling men who are
doing a good job for the public that they are wrong about the way they form their masculinity. It is necessary for research
to find a way to reduce the negative factors in this process without disturbing the positive ones. This is a task that calls for
careful attention, sensitive awareness of the complexity and paradoxes involved: not a firefighters axe, because if taking
away the negative points were to result in more people dying in fires, or firefighters’ humanitarian calling being broken,
then the ends do not justify the means.
Such research may easily parallel research in the police, who at this distance I would firmly associate with many of
the findings in this report. In particular, my findings regarding firefighters’ informal hierarchies (primary reference
groups), which provides understandings on how The Job is done, how to resist officers and a source of their views of the
world could equally apply to the police. Where others have been convinced the police have a problem with their
cop/canteen culture (Macpherson 1999) I take the view that ‘culture’ is just a word like masculinity, convenient to use, but
so contextual to the individual or the ‘in’ group that it forms a drifting smoke screen that is impossible to pin down. It is
my view that Macpherson’s account of cop/canteen culture took the view that is was a simple form of behaviour that
actually took place in the canteen. As I would argue about the fire service Macpherson did not recognise how powerful a
group the experienced constables are in the police.
It is also interesting that, like firefighters, the police also see their work as The Job: a job that they, as
professionals, know how best to do. I am very aware that when a police recruit leaves Hendon they are vulnerable in
exactly the same way as the new firefighter probationer. They meet the ‘men’ (who they are in awe of), who will teach
them The Job and tell them that they must forget much of what they have learnt. The police even have a name for the way
they teach new recruits, they call it ‘puppy walking’. The new, and vulnerable, recruit is aware that if they do not comply
with whatever canteen/cop culture means to the person with the ‘lead’ (and puppy walking them), they will not get the
information they need to become police officers, or at least most believe that is so. As Macpherson (1999) argues, police
racism affects the police’s ability to do their work, but all the efforts and all the money spent has not stopped police
racism. Might it be that that research in the police could benefit from looking to see if the dynamics between firefighters
and officers (that this report has found) might transfer to the way policing is organised? It could be that the interaction
between masculinity, public service ethos and homosociality may be such, that whilst officers can create an illusion of
being in charge, they may be involved in a struggle of similar proportions to that in the fire service. This might have
similar outcomes, as constables and officers, both appearing intent on providing a good service, may also be constructing
their masculinity at the same time. And, as in the fire service, it may be that constables have a far greater degree of
control of how The Job is done than otherwise recognised.
One way forward may be to fund research aimed at finding if the education of potential recruits for all uniformed
public services could take place much earlier. The model developed by Public and Emergency Service courses in FE and
HE could have real advantages for providing a more aware recruit, particularly in equal opportunities terms. Research
may also provide some way of understanding more about the general aspirations and qualities of both young men and
young women that attract them to such work before they begin more specialist training on the job in whatever service they
ultimately choose. Research should also consider if it is possible to attract a wider section of the community to education