Based on an ethnographic survey conducted within Interministerial Research Groups (GIRs) in France, gathering together police officers from different forces, tax auditors, customs officers, and labor market fraud inspectors, this article analyzes the maintenance of a shared team spirit, creating an identity of “social avengers.” By analyzing trajectories and dispositions, I explore what attracted GIR agents to join the institution and this line of work, before showing how they learn to stand together by conveying the idea that they are “all the same.” The members of the group, in a situation of social and professional advancement, put new sparkle into their real life and career path while promoting the unit they belong to.
- Police
- Tax auditors
- Team spirit
- Trajectories
- Ethnography