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Last week\u2019s riots took place across different nights in multiple cities and involved no one ethnic group.\u00a0 The reasons behind them are complex and a unifying theory is likely to be evasive.\u00a0<\/p>\nLast week\u2019s riots took place across different nights in multiple cities and involved no one ethnic group.\u00a0 The reasons behind them are complex and a unifying theory is likely to be evasive.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Many of the explanations for the riots have been made to fit around already established political agendas.\u00a0 The left has focused on deprivation and an excessively greedy society, while the right has blamed police numbers and a lack of discipline and boundaries.<\/p>\n
With such widespread disturbance, it\u2019s more than likely that any explanation will have some merit.\u00a0 The explanations favoured by our political elite will have very real consequences.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
Criminal? Political? Naomi Klein writes<\/a> of the riots as a “nighttime robbery” following the “daylight robbery” of recent massive banking bailouts and subsequent austerity programme.\u00a0 \u201cWhen you rob people of what little they have, in order to protect the interests of those who have more than anyone deserves, you should expect resistance\u2014whether organised protests or spontaneous looting.\u201d<\/p>\n Driven by consumerism? In a consumerist society, like that in the UK, the idea of social identity through consumerism is promoted. Yet economic hardship has left many people unable to afford consumer goods.\u00a0<\/p>\n This article<\/a> argues that “Far from disregarding the values of society \u2026 the young people who were involved in property theft were enacting the very values that are communicated to them every day through advertisements and public culture.”<\/p>\n Failure of the criminal justice system? Poor relations with police?<\/p>\n It was striking how many of the rioters didn\u2019t cover their faces. Why did they think that they wouldn\u2019t go to prison?\u00a0<\/p>\n There may be genuine tensions between some communities and the police, and this has been the trigger to previous serious UK rioting.\u00a0 In October 2010 for instance it was reported <\/a>that black people are 26 times more likely than whites to face stop and search.<\/p>\n A breakdown in society? Put another way, society relies on collaborative behaviour.\u00a0 The majority of us are pro-social, at least in part, as we are convinced that it is in our best interests. If people feel themselves to be disenfranchised, by a society that offers little educational or employment opportunities, this does not apply.\u00a0In the absence of mainstream ways of gaining self worth, some look inwards and create their own self esteem through their involvement in gangs, with violent consequences.\u00a0<\/p>\n The Prime Minister David Cameron has also talked about<\/a> societal breakdown, and blamed in part the bad example set by our elites.\u00a0<\/p>\n This paper<\/a> links budget cuts to social unrest.<\/p>\n Parenting\/lack of respect? Some of the rioters were minors<\/a>, suggesting both inadequate supervision and a failure to introduce pro-social values.\u00a0A judge was critical of a family<\/a> who did not turn up to the court appearance of their 14 year old daughter.\u00a0<\/p>\n Are the riots symptomatic of breakdown elsewhere?\u00a0 Some people have written that<\/a>, due to the intervention of the state, parents are no longer able to adequately discipline their children.\u00a0As a result children are growing up with a dangerous sense of entitlement and lack of responsibility.\u00a0 The power of the crowd? One psychologist was quoted<\/a> as likening the riots to those seen in jails where \u201cthere is no higher purpose, you just have a high volume of people with a history of impulsive behaviour, having a giant adventure.\u201d<\/p>\n Deindividuation<\/a>, where social norms are compromised when people are in groups, has also been mooted. \u201cThat violence is an epidemic is not a metaphor; it is a scientific fact,\u201d writes<\/a> Gary Sultkin who likens violence to that of disease spread.\u00a0Some sociologists write here<\/a> that crowds are irrational (but then offer to explain them).<\/p>\n Professor Stephen Reitcher<\/a>, professor of social psychology and expert on crowd psychology is unimpressed<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n Architecture? The gentrification of large parts of previously disadvantaged areas has led to different communities – between whom communication is almost non-existent \u2013 living in close proximity as discussed in this London Review of Books blog<\/a>.<\/p>\n \u201cHistorically\u201d writes architectural historian Wouter Vanstiphout<\/a>, \u201cthere is a correlation between large-scale urban projects and upsurges in urban violence.\u201d But, \u201cit is much too soon to say anything,\u201d he says, \u201cabout the relationship between the gentrification of Brixton, or the coming of the Olympics to London, and the current explosion of violent alienation\u201d<\/p>\n A unified theory? At a structural level The UK\u2019s “knowledge economy” benefits some people but excludes many others.\u00a0Many people are able to accumulate the skills and qualifications necessary to thrive.\u00a0 However for reasons of upbringing and opportunities, others are unable to benefit.\u00a0Social mobility remains poor.<\/p>\n Inner cities are particularly disadvantaged.\u00a0In some communities single parent families are common, and role models are lacking.\u00a0Family life is difficult if family members are obliged to take multiple low paid jobs.\u00a0There are few activities available for young people and unemployment is high.\u00a0<\/p>\n In addition, the example set by UK elites has been poor and low income groups have disproportionately suffered from austerity cuts.\u00a0 The money spent on the Olympics has had little effect on surrounding areas.\u00a0 Expensive consumer goods are available for sale to the affluent middle class for whom city living is now fashionable and more affordable in previously run down areas.<\/p>\n Did something have to give?<\/p>\n Stephen Ginn<\/strong> is the BMJ<\/em> Editorial Registrar. He writes a personal blog at: http:\/\/www.frontierpsychiatrist.co.uk<\/a> Follow him on Twitter at: http:\/\/www.twitter.com\/psychiatrist<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Last week\u2019s riots took place across different nights in multiple cities and involved no one ethnic group.\u00a0 The reasons behind them are complex and a unifying theory is likely to […]<\/p>\n
\n<\/strong>According to some on the right the riots were largely criminal acts of opportunistic looting and vandalism<\/a>. This cannot be discounted, not least as there are reports of the looting being highly organised<\/a>. However it does not have sufficient explanatory power to be the complete story behind the disturbances.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\n<\/strong>The night of the riots involved widespread looting of consumer goods, with institutions of the state left largely untouched. On this basis, they could be described as “apolitical.” However simply because the riots were not purposeful does not immediately disqualify them from being political.\u00a0
\nAlongside their ostensibly consumerist goals, the riots challenged the police for control of the streets, flouting law and social convention.\u00a0This is arguably<\/a> a political act.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\n<\/strong>The looting during the riots was mostly of consumer goods, leading them to be described as<\/a> “aspirational.”\u00a0 This explanation for the riots centres on what we value in society and the ability of some people to afford this.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\n<\/strong>This is an argument favoured by the left. Its proponents feel that a large section our society has no stake in it and that the riots were an understandable<\/a> response to the brutality of the poverty they experience.\u00a0<\/p>\n
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\nThis is a related argument to that of the “broken society.”<\/p>\n
\nIn times of economic downturn some family units can become fragmented.\u00a0The father of the 14 year old mentioned above said that he was unable to attend court as he has two jobs.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\n<\/strong>Other explanations floated for the riots have touched on crowd psychology.\u00a0This might seem to explain the relative normality<\/a> of some of participants.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\n<\/strong>Anna Minton writes in her book Ground Control<\/a><\/em> about how current trends in city planning have led to a transformation of public space.\u00a0Designed with the objectives of profit and safety paramount, physical environments in the city are being created which \u201creflects the stark division of the city creating homogenous enclaves which undermine trust between people.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
\n<\/strong>The number of people involved in the riots\u00a0is in the thousands, in cities of several million.\u00a0 As of 17 August the Met had charged 1005 people and made 1773 arrests.\u00a0 Therefore we should be wary of making generalisations about communities based on a relatively small number of their members.\u00a0 All of the above explanations hold some truth, and the discourse is about which we afford the greatest weight.\u00a0<\/p>\n