Abstract

RODRIGUES, Divino de Jesus da Silva  and  SILVA, Ana Paula Soares da. "Protection and security for the population, but not to the whole": senses and meanings of the military police as attributed by psychology students. Psicol. rev. (Belo Horizonte) [online]. 2019, vol.25, n.2, pp.820-837. ISSN 1677-1168.  https://doi.org/10.5752/P.1678-9563.2019v25n2p820-837.

This present research aimed to gather psychology faculty students’ senses and meanings concerning the Military Police and their attributions in the society. It was based on the theoretical frameworks of sociohistorical Psychology and the method of dialectical historical materialism. Data were collected from ten university students, aged between 18 and 29 years old, from the Psychology course of the Pontifical Catholic University of Goiás, through semi-structured interviews. The systematization and the analysis were guided by the nuclei of meaning methodology. The results point out that the senses and significance attributed to the Military Police are intertwined with the activities they perform within the society. Thus, on one hand, they point out that the function of the corporation is to bring protection and security to the population, but, on the other hand, it is signified as an authoritarian, violent, repressive and coercive force, maintaining differentiated actions according to the interests of the state and social classes.

Keywords : Police violence; Sociohistorical Psychology; Psychology University students; Senses and meanings.

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