Conservative political orientation in the German police: selection and socialization

A large body of research shows that police officers hold more conservative political orientations than the general population, both across countries and over time. Studies seeking to explain this phenomenon report inconclusive findings. This paper studies two possible explanations: self-selection of politically conservative individuals into the police force (selection hypothesis) and growing conservatism over the course of police work (occupational socialization hypothesis). We focus on Germany, a police force with an authoritarian history and extensive modernization in the past decades, thereby representing an important case study for the long-term interplay between conservative political orientation and police service. For our analysis, we are relying on longitudinal data from the German Socio-Economic Panel (SOEP), a large-scale representative panel study of German households, covering the years 1984–2020. In line with previous research, our results show that the police force differs significantly from individuals in other occupations as well as the general population, reporting more politically conservative attitudes in left–right self-placement and stronger identification with conservative parties. Furthermore, we find evidence that selection effects contribute to attitudinal differences in party orientation.