The Authoritarian Interlude: Democracy, Values and the Politics of Hubris by Peter Marden

Author:Peter Marden [Marden, Peter]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Political Science, Essays, General, Political Ideologies
ISBN: 9781317040842
Google: q4-1CwAAQBAJ
Goodreads: 29513210
Publisher: Routledge
Published: 2016-03-09T00:00:00+00:00

Incivility, Violence and Social Exclusion

The scenario painted by Ballard in Kingdom Come of a chaotic suburban wasteland ruled by gangs was reflected in the reality of the London riots of August 2011. The pictures of burning cars and buildings shocked the world, as the police seemed to lose control of rioting youths. After the riots came the looting. Across London windows were smashed, and shops emptied. Many experts claimed that social exclusion and the breakdown of law and order could have spurred looters to disregard social norms.

‘Many of the people involved are likely to have been from low-income, high-unemployment estates, and many, if not most, do not have much of a legitimate future’, said criminologist and youth culture expert Professor John Pitts. Unlike most people, some of those looting had no stake in conformity, he said. ‘Those things that normally constrain people are not there. Much of this was opportunism but in the middle of it there is a social question to be asked about young people with nothing to lose’ (cited in Topping, 2011). On much of the footage of the widespread theft after the riots, looters can be seen brazenly taking the goods they want, some without taking the precaution of covering their face. In one video in Wood Green, people can be seen leaving H&M with a haul of goods, with others standing around JD Sports apparently waiting for their turn to take goods. Looters found ways to justify their actions, Pitts added. ‘They feel they can rationalise it by targeting big corporations. There is a sense that the companies have lots of money, while they have very little’. Combined with a lack of intervention from police and increasing lawlessness, the combination was explosive: ‘[Looters] quickly see that police cannot control the situation, which leads to a sort of adrenalin-fuelled euphoria – suddenly you are in control and there is nothing anyone can do’. A generation bred on a diet of excessive consumerism and bombarded by advertising had been unleashed, he added. ‘Where we used to be defined by what we did, now we are defined by what we buy. These big stores are in the business of tempting (the consumer) and then suddenly these people find they can just walk into the shop and have it all (Topping, 2011).

Some commentators compared these riots with the 1981 Brixton riots, but as The Guardian Editorial pointed out, there are some important differences between then and now. Three decades ago, Lord Scarman’s landmark report concluded that the Brixton riots were ‘essentially an outburst of anger and resentment by young black people against the police’. The evidence for that conclusion was overwhelming. London’s police had provided repeated provocation for concern and anger. Much policing of that era was too aggressive, too high-handed, based on crude and often racist stereotypes, and lacked any convincing accountability, either strategically or for individual abuses. The 2011 riots by contrast are more to do with social exclusion, deprivation and blatant inequality. The Editorial concluded by

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