The article analyzes the experience of submission to police authority through in-depth interviews with citizens of middle and high strata of Rio de Janeiro who have been subjected to police stops in blitzes related to the Lei Seca. Its purpose is to investigate in those experiences the articulation between cognitive and emotional aspects, that is, how cognitive aspects (concepts of authority, legality, power, violence, etc.) are intertwined with emotional dimensions. In so doing, the article seeks to contribute to the study of emotions in public life as well as to the field of studies on policing. Finally, based on Norbert Elias observations, the article discusses the impact on policing studies of the central role occupied by conflict in the choice/construction of research objects in the social sciences.
Police authority; Emotions; Dry law operation; Policing