Week 2: The London Riots

The riots last Summer were caused by a moral collapse.

Melanie Phillips, Britain's liberal intelligentsia has smashed virtually every social value: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/debate/article-2024690/UK-riots-2011-Britains-liberal-intelligentsia-smashed-virtually-social-value.html

Polly Toynbee, Moral outrage at rioters fixes nothing: the only remedies are liberal: http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2011/aug/12/moral-outrage-rioters-liberal

Offender stats, England rioters 'poorer, younger, less educated': http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-15426720

Showing the rich what we want: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZUzuYoCkYAY

Key terms:

·         Social Identity Theory: Define oneself as belonging to a group and can result in exaggerating similar behaviours within the group, and exaggerating differences with non-group members.

·         Determinism: Behaviour is driven by external or internal factors that are not under our free will. Behaviour is the result of a chain of consequences.

·         Situational Hypothesis: The environment that you find yourself in affects your behaviour, e.g. being in and around the London riots might have made people who wouldn’t normally riot become rioters.

·         Anomie: When people act against society’s shared values (collective conscience) in their own interest. This usually happens during times of social change or stress (e.g. recession). First used by Durkheim, then later adapted by Merton.

·         Strain Theory: Crime happens when the socially acceptable goals of society (e.g. widescreen TVs) are not achieved through socially accepted means of achieving these goals (e.g. looting). Coined by Robert Merton (1938).

·         Status Frustration: Working class young men feel like they are being looked down upon by society because although they aspire to the same goals as middle class young men they lack the means to achieve them. Albert Cohen (1955).

Theories, Studies, and Stats:

·         Durkheim:

o   function of crime,

o   weakened collective conscience – due to recession? (Therefore explaining previous riots)

§  Freed from social control

§  ANOMIE!! – perusing selfish interests, rather than adhering to social values

·         Katz:

o   Drawn in for the thrill

·         Marxism:

o   Scapegoats:  are the rioters scapegoats for the ruling class, in this case the politicians and bankers?

·         Offenders are in line with statistics from the Prison Reform Trust, www.prisonreformtrust.org.uk