Stereotypes advanced by the popular media, do not necessarily have the power to directly determine an individual's ways of thinking, but do help frame and reinforce already existing cultural beliefs, particularly within the context of the seemingly innocuous narrative fictions of cable television. These narratives not only simplify complex ideas, but also can further entrench or justify harmful social relations. My contention here, is that the popular television program Justified does precisely this by normalizing police violence and the ways that the police underpin and reproduce profoundly disparate class and racialized social order. While in many ways a typical police procedural, Justified is a particularly unique and hence useful case for analysis because its setting and subject matter focuses almost wholly upon the transgressions of the mostly white, rural poor as opposed to other popular examples from the genre such as The Wire which are routinely set in so-called urban ghettos. The justified violence of police in this particular context then, offers insight into a unique cultural script depicting how largely white rural poor are swept up in a moral and spatial purge deemed altogether necessary because of their cultural and perhaps biological failings.
","abstract_html":"<p>Stereotypes advanced by the popular media, do not necessarily have the power to directly determine an individual's ways of thinking, but do help frame and reinforce already existing cultural beliefs, particularly within the context of the seemingly innocuous narrative fictions of cable television. These narratives not only simplify complex ideas, but also can further entrench or justify harmful social relations. My contention here, is that the popular television program <em>Justified</em> does precisely this by normalizing police violence and the ways that the police underpin and reproduce profoundly disparate class and racialized social order. While in many ways a typical police procedural, <em>Justified</em> is a particularly unique and hence useful case for analysis because its setting and subject matter focuses almost wholly upon the transgressions of the mostly white, rural poor as opposed to other popular examples from the genre such as <em>The Wire</em> which are routinely set in so-called urban ghettos. The justified violence of police in this particular context then, offers insight into a unique cultural script depicting how largely white rural poor are swept up in a moral and spatial purge deemed altogether necessary because of their cultural and perhaps biological failings. </p>","abstract_has_math":false,"creators":["Harman, Joel Franklin"],"institution":"Eastern Kentucky University","degree_name":"Master of Science (MS)","degree_level":"Master's","degree_discipline":"Justice Studies","degree_department":null,"school":null,"contributors":[],"advisors":[],"committee_chairs":[],"committee_members":[],"year":2017,"date_issued":"2017-01-01T08:00:00Z","date_published":"2017-01-01T08:00:00Z","updated_at":"2026-07-24T02:15:47Z","subjects":["Police Power","Rurality","Whiteness","Criminology","Film and Media Studies","Law Enforcement and Corrections"],"languages":[],"rights":["Copyright 2017 Joel Franklin Harman"],"rights_urls":[],"identifier_entries":[]},"links":{"outbound_url":"https://encompass.eku.edu/etd/530","outbound_label":"Repository record","outbound_source":"dc:identifier"},"metadata_groups":[{"id":"people","label":"People","entries":[{"key":"dc:creator","label":"Author","values":["Harman, Joel Franklin"]}]},{"id":"academic_context","label":"Academic Context","entries":[{"key":"dc:publisher","label":"Institution","values":["Encompass Digital Archive, Eastern Kentucky University"]},{"key":"dc:type","label":"Dc Type","values":["Master Thesis"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_discipline","label":"Discipline","values":["Justice Studies"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_level","label":"Degree Level","values":["Master's"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_name","label":"Degree Name","values":["Master of Science (MS)"]},{"key":"thesis:institution_name","label":"Thesis Institution Name","values":["Eastern Kentucky University"]}]},{"id":"subjects_keywords","label":"Subjects and Keywords","entries":[{"key":"dc:subject","label":"Dc Subject","values":["Police Power","Rurality","Whiteness","Criminology","Film and Media Studies","Law Enforcement and Corrections"]}]},{"id":"language_rights","label":"Language and Rights","entries":[{"key":"dc:rights","label":"Dc Rights","values":["Copyright 2017 Joel Franklin Harman"]}]},{"id":"identifiers","label":"Identifiers","entries":[{"key":"dc:identifier","label":"Identifier","values":["https://encompass.eku.edu/etd/530"]}]},{"id":"additional","label":"Additional Metadata","entries":[{"key":"dc:description.abstract","label":"Abstract","values":["Stereotypes advanced by the popular media, do not necessarily have the power to directly determine an individual's ways of thinking, but do help frame and reinforce already existing cultural beliefs, particularly within the context of the seemingly innocuous narrative fictions of cable television. These narratives not only simplify complex ideas, but also can further entrench or justify harmful social relations. My contention here, is that the popular television program Justified does precisely this by normalizing police violence and the ways that the police underpin and reproduce profoundly disparate class and racialized social order. While in many ways a typical police procedural, Justified is a particularly unique and hence useful case for analysis because its setting and subject matter focuses almost wholly upon the transgressions of the mostly white, rural poor as opposed to other popular examples from the genre such as The Wire which are routinely set in so-called urban ghettos. The justified violence of police in this particular context then, offers insight into a unique cultural script depicting how largely white rural poor are swept up in a moral and spatial purge deemed altogether necessary because of their cultural and perhaps biological failings.
"]},{"key":"dc:format","label":"Dc Format","values":["application/PDF"]},{"key":"dc:source","label":"Dc Source","values":["Encompass Digital Archive: Online Theses and Dissertations"]},{"key":"dc:title","label":"Title","values":["The Justified Lawman: Cowboy Killings in the Modern Era"]}]}],"canonical_facts":{"dc:creator":["Harman, Joel Franklin"],"dc:description.abstract":["Stereotypes advanced by the popular media, do not necessarily have the power to directly determine an individual's ways of thinking, but do help frame and reinforce already existing cultural beliefs, particularly within the context of the seemingly innocuous narrative fictions of cable television. These narratives not only simplify complex ideas, but also can further entrench or justify harmful social relations. My contention here, is that the popular television program Justified does precisely this by normalizing police violence and the ways that the police underpin and reproduce profoundly disparate class and racialized social order. While in many ways a typical police procedural, Justified is a particularly unique and hence useful case for analysis because its setting and subject matter focuses almost wholly upon the transgressions of the mostly white, rural poor as opposed to other popular examples from the genre such as The Wire which are routinely set in so-called urban ghettos. The justified violence of police in this particular context then, offers insight into a unique cultural script depicting how largely white rural poor are swept up in a moral and spatial purge deemed altogether necessary because of their cultural and perhaps biological failings.
"],"dc:format":["application/PDF"],"dc:identifier":["https://encompass.eku.edu/etd/530"],"dc:publisher":["Encompass Digital Archive, Eastern Kentucky University"],"dc:rights":["Copyright 2017 Joel Franklin Harman"],"dc:source":["Encompass Digital Archive: Online Theses and Dissertations"],"dc:subject":["Police Power","Rurality","Whiteness","Criminology","Film and Media Studies","Law Enforcement and Corrections"],"dc:title":["The Justified Lawman: Cowboy Killings in the Modern Era"],"dc:type":["Master Thesis"],"thesis:degree_discipline":["Justice Studies"],"thesis:degree_level":["Master's"],"thesis:degree_name":["Master of Science (MS)"],"thesis:institution_name":["Eastern Kentucky University"]},"updated_at":"2026-07-24T02:15:47Z"}