An analysis of commentary on the UK’s August 2011 riots reveals shifts in the way the media and politicians now construe concepts of youth, race, criminality and deprivation. By comparing the response to these events with that which followed the riots of 1981, these changes can be clarified and illuminated. This analysis reveals that discussions of ‘social problems’ exploited by ‘infiltrators’ (1981) have been replaced by notions of ‘pure criminality’ and ‘mob rule’. The implications of these changes for contemporary protest, and some ways in which the riots and other forms of protest can be related, are drawn out.
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Guardian (2010) Philip Green to be target of corporate tax avoidance protest. 29November. Online at <www.guardian.co.uk>.
Guardian (2011) Haringey youth club closures: ‘There’ll be riots’ – video. 31July. Online at <www.guardian.co.uk>.
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Guardian (2011) English riots were ‘a sort of revenge’ against the police. 5December. Online at <www.guardian.co.uk>.
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Guardian (2011) Riots without responsibility. 10August.
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PizzeyE (1981) letter to the Times, 9July. Times (1981) Police ‘under trained to combat agitators’. 24August.
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Sunday Telegraph (2011) Tottenham and Broadwater Farm: A tale of two riots. 7August.Times (1981) Brixton: A plague for both parties, 18April.Times (1981) See for example the Times’s collated letters pages on the riots, ‘Diagnosing the causes of social unrest’, 11July.
