A History of the Policing of Class and Gender Relations in Eugene, Oregon

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A History of the Policing of Class and Gender Relations in Eugene, Oregon 1 I SPY WITH MY LITTLE EYE: A HISTORY OF THE POLICING OF CLASS AND GENDER RELATIONS IN EUGENE, OREGON (USA) by NEIL WEBSDALE 2 ABSTRACT My thesis is that local police in Eugene and Lane County, Oregon, have been integral parts of a process of governmentality which was directed at the constitution and reconstitution of various forms of social order. In terms of class relations we find police mediating and managing a number of antagonisms. This management role took both coercive and consensual forms and was largely concerned with the his- torical regulation of the proletariat. We witness a more passive role for police in the field of patriarchy. Here law enforcement strategies were non-interventionist vis a vis domestic violence, rape and prosti- tution. This passivity tended to reproduce the sovereign powers of men over women. In order to grasp the historical function of policing I argue that we must consider its utility in terms of both class and gender relations. While selective policing served to ensure the ongoing governability of the increasing numbers of male wage workers, it also allowed men in general to remain as sovereigns within families. In Section I I draw upon Marxism, Feminism, Poststructuralism and Phenomenology to make explicit my theoretical and methodological approach. My recognition of the importance of human agency is reflected in my use of qualitative sources such as oral histories, government documents, newspapers and court archival material. These sources are augmented by a guarded quantitative analysis of census data, crime statistics and police annual reports. Sections II and III provide historical outlines of national, state and local levels of class (II) and gender (III) relations respectively. In Section IV I discuss the rise of local policing and its relationship to other forms of governmentality. This leads me into a detailed appreciation of the policing of class (V) and gender conflict (VI). 3 I finally broke into the prison I found my place in the chain. Leonard Cohen, The Old Revolution 4 ACKNOWLEDGMENTS This study could not have been completed without the help of numerous people. I am indebted to the staff at the newspaper library, Oregon Historical Collection and the Documents Section of the University of Oregon (UO) Library, Eugene; the City Recorder's office in Eugene and especially Karen Goldman who assisted me in finding a number of materials and who generously provided me with virtually unlimited access to them; the staff of the Lane County Court Archives and especially Lois Royce who allowed me to read transcripts outside of the hours set aside for public use; the Lane County Historical Museum; Stephen Kincaid, Oregon Law Enforcement Data System, Salem; Keith Richard, archivst at the UO Archives. My research benefitted greatly from conversations with a number of individuals including Phyllis Taylor, Administrative Manager of the Lane County Court; Robert Clark, President of the UO (1969-75); Richard Maxwell Brown, UO Department of History; Mike Hibbard, UO Department of Public Policy and Management; John Kline, UO Department of English; Mark Kaplan, University of Illinois, Urbana-Champagne, School of Social Work. I would also like to thank Ed Starnes, Court Smith and Bart Hacker of the Oregon State University Social Science Research Group for their helpful comments and suggestions. The help of both Lieutenant Eric Mellgren and Sergeant Tim McCarthy of the Eugene Police Department was critical in getting this research venture off the ground. These officers provided me my first contacts with oral history respondents. The names of the 23 respondents remain anonymous. Their contributions permeate the thesis and constitute an invaluable historical record. I thank them greatly. 5 I am grateful to Gay McKinlay for the loan of her family diaries documenting the overland trek to Oregon and for many conversations relating to the content of my work. I would also like to thank Kathy Weinman for her love and support during some of the hard times associated with writing this thesis. The staff of the Department of Human Rights and Education have helped me tremendously over the years. In the early years of my research Margherita Rendel offered invaluable advice and constructive criticism. As my Ph.D. supervisor, Eva Gamarnikow's contribution to the completion of this research venture was vitally important. Her insightful ideas and practical guidelines are evident throughout the body of the thesis. Her challenging and yet friendly presentation of alternative ways of seeing social-historical issues and of constructing them through the written word, have been both a source of learning and inspiration to me. I thank her greatly. Joann Brady has typed the drafts and final version of this work. Her skill, speed and organizational ability have never ceased to amaze me. Her kindness and friendship have helped me to finish this work. My mother Molly, my father John and sisters Jill and Judy have helped me in numerous ways over the last few years. I love them and thank them. This study has been "lived through" by my wife Amy. Her love, labour and encouragement have been crucial in bringing it to fruition. I cannot find words of sufficient stature to express my gratitude to her or my love for her. Finally I want to thank my daughter Mia who is just now beginning to enter the world of language and government. Her smiles and tears have touched my heart and these pages. 6 TABLE OF CONTENTS Chapter Page INTRODUCTION 10 SECTION I. THEORETICAL BACKGROUND AND METHODOLOGY 17 1. POLICE AS AGENTS OF GOVERNMENTAL DISCIPLINE 18 2. THEORETICAL BACKGROUND ON CLASS AND ITS RELATIONSHIP TO POLICING 50 3. GENDER RELATIONS: ESTABLISHING A THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK FOR THE ANALYSIS OF POLICING AND PATRIARCHY 67 4. METHODOLOGY 91 SECTION II. CLASS RELATIONS: AN HISTORICAL OUTLINE 121 5. CLASS RELATIONS AND THE RISING REPUBLIC 122 6. THE EMERGENCE OF CAPITALISM IN OREGON 141 7. CLASS RELATIONS IN EUGENE AND LANE COUNTY, OREGON . 154 SECTION III. GENDER RELATIONS: AN HISTORICAL OUTLINE 170 8. INTIMACY AND SUBJECTION: A BRIEF POLITICAL HISTORY OF GENDER RELATIONS IN THE USA 171 9. PLANTING THE SEEDS OF PATRIARCHY IN OREGON 183 10. THE ESTABLISHMENT AND CONSOLIDATION OF A LOCAL PATRIARCHAL REGIME 197 SECTION IV. THE RISE OF A LOCAL APPARATUS OF POLICE 213 11. THE STRUCTURE AND ORGANIZATION OF LAW ENFORCEMENT IN EUGENE AND LANE COUNTY: AN HISTORICAL OUTLINE 214 12. POLICING, SURVEILLANCE AND GOVERNMENTALITY 244 SECTION V. THE POLICING OF CLASS RELATIONS IN EUGENE AND LANE COUNTY 265 13. POLICING AND SOCIALITY: HEGEMONIC DISCOURSES AND THE LOCAL ENFORCEMENT OF LAW IN THE FIELD OF CLASS RELATIONS, 1853-96 266 14. POLICING THE CLASS RELATIONS OF LARGE SCALE CAPITALIST PRODUCTION 299 15. THE INTENSIFICATION OF SURVEILLANCE BY THE EPD AND THE MANAGEMENT OF A PROLETARIAT "FOR ITSELF" 326 7 SECTION VI. THE POLICING OF GENDER RELATIONS IN EUGENE AND LANE COUNTY 356 16. GOVERNMENTALITY, POLICING AND THE MANAGEMENT OF GENDER RELATIONS IN LANE COUNTY, 1853-1912 357 17. THE POLICING OF LOCAL GENDER RELATIONS IN THE AGE OF FEMALE SUFFRAGE 383 CONCLUDING REMARKS 419 APPENDICES 423 A. ORAL HISTORY MATERIALS 424 B. SAMPLE QUESTIONS USED AS THE BASIS FOR FOCUSED INTERVIEWS WITH RESPONDENTS WHO HAD BEEN POLICE OFFICERS 425 C. INTERVIEW SCHEDULE WITH CITY POLITICIANS 427 D. MAPS OF OREGON 428 E. KEY WORDS CARD FOR ORAL HISTORY RESPONDENTS 432 F. POPULATION OF EUGENE, LANE COUNTY AND OREGON FROM 1860-1960 433 G. NEWSPAPERS USED 434 H. LANE COUNTY CIRCUIT COURT DIVORCE EVIDENCE 435 I. MAYORS OF THE CITY OF EUGENE, OREGON 448 J. NOTES ON DIVORCE RATES FOR LANE COUNTY AND OREGON . 452 K. BAR GRAPH REPRESENTATION OF DIVORCE CASE DATA 456 L. THE GROWTH OF EUGENE: AS REFLECTED BY THE VALUE OF BUILDING PERMITS ISSUED BY THE CITY COUNCIL, 1914-56 460 M. CRIME STATISTICS 1946-60 461 N. THE NUMBER OF POLICE OFFICERS IN THE EPD: 1864-1960. 462 P. THE MARSHALS AND POLICE CHIEFS OF EUGENE WITH DATES IN OFFICE 463 Q. THE SHERIFFS OF LANE COUNTY WITH DATES IN OFFICE 464 R. A TENTATIVE OVERVIEW OF THE CLASS STRUCTURE OF LANE COUNTY FOR THE YEARS 1905, 1930 and 1960 465 BIBLIOGRAPHY 473 8 LIST OF TABLES Table Page 6.1 To show patterns of ownership in manufacturing industry in Oregon 1914-29 146 6.2 To show the number of wage earners employed under different patterns of manufacturing ownership in Oregon, 1914-29 146 7.1 Percentages of Lane County farmers owning, renting, or sharecropping land in 1880 156 7.2 The change in the number of farms in Lane County between 1880 and 1960, as reflected by census data. 161 7.3 Estimation of class membership for 1905, 1930 and 1960 in Lane County 163 9.1 Percentages of Oregon men and women gainfully employed according to census enumerators for 1850, 1900, 1910 and 1960 190 10.1 Divorce rates in Lane County for certain years between 1853 and 1960 199 11.1 To show the change in police personnel levels and population in Eugene: 1870-1960 238 12.1 The number of inmates at the Oregon Insane Asylum for certain years between 1865 and 1897 255 12.2 To show the annual enrollment, average daily attendance, total incidents of lateness (tardies) and cases of corporal punishment in Eugene schools between 1889 and 1891 257 12.3 The average number of inmates of the Oregon Reform School for the months shown 258 13.1 To show the rising disparity between arrests and convictions for various years between 1879 and 1889, as a possible indicator of the emergence of selective law enforcement strategies 285 14.1 EPD annual arrest statistics as reflected in cases recorded in the municipal court docket between April 1, 1912 and March 31, 1917 312 15.1 To show arrest rates for vagrancy, drunkenness and disorderly conduct and the provision of overnight lodging by the EPD from 1929-36 340 9 15.2 To show vagrancy arrests in Eugene between 1846-60.
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