The Grounds and Implications of Social Order: A Qualitative Study of NAJA Staffs

Introduction The law enforcement is considered as one of the official providers of social order. According to empirical evidence, there is a type of skepticism amongst people and the community against law enforcement organizations; the majority of complaints have been posed with regards to police stations and the road police. The dominant approach employed in the existing research on the role and position of police in social security and order involves a quantitative, extrinsic nature. Furthermore, the audience in such studies mainly included people and the society (e.g. Doosti & Fallahi, 2015; Habibzadeh & Soltani, 2016; Kamran & Ahmadian, 2009; Saei & Bakhshi, 2012), while studying the NAJA staffs themselves as providers of social security and order has been overlooked. The present study seeks to delve into the world of the NAJA staffs using the qualitative method. The study of backgrounds and semantic implications of order from the perspective of NAJA staffs could be very beneficial for understanding and analyzing social order in a society where order is retained majorly by organizations supervised by NAJA. It could also contribute to the reformation of administrative structures and providing an exquisite approach and insight within the police force on how to provide and retain security and order through an interactive and participatory approach in the society. This issue is of particular significance in the case (Shahin Dezh) studied in the present research due to its multicultural and multiethnic texture. Material & Methods In this study, it is attempted to explore social order from the view of the NAJA staffs. Given the complexity, sensitivity and contextual nature of social order, the qualitative method is more suitable. In addition, the Grounded Theory method was used to examine the backgrounds and constitutive conditions of social order. The case studied in this inquiry was the law enforcement staffs of Shahin Dezh city, located in Western Azerbaijan province. One of the requirements for participants was to have a minimum service period of ten years. The sample size in this study depended on the saturation limit intended for theoretical conclusion which was attained during the research process. Subsequently, 32 semi-structured interviews were conducted with the law enforcement agents of Shahin Dezh. Since the purpose of the Grounded Theory is theorization or theoretical analysis, the theoretical sampling method was employed. As for the intervi