 Underlying the Riots: The Invisible Politics of ClassGraham Scambler and Annette Scambler Sociological Research Online, 2011, vol. 16, issue 4, 227-230 Abstract: Rioters from what has been contemptuously dismissed as a ‘feral underclass’ have become instant ‘folk devils’, a judgement evoking wider ‘moral panic’. In this brief contribution to an already lively project to make sociological and explanatory sense of four days of unpredicted mahem, together with its political/media packaging, we provide some pointers from sociology's classic tradition. It is argued that the post-1970s era of financial capitalism has witnessed a shift in the dynamic between class and state. The class politics of the advantaged, engineered by core members of Britain's capital executive and their allies in the state's power elite, has effectively restricted the potential for a class politics of the disadvantaged. The riots cannot be reduced to class action, far from it: they seem to have been more opportunistic and consumerist than political. Nevertheless, they cannot be explained without reference to the class politics of the advantaged. Issues of oppositional mobilization are addressed and three proposals for a research programme commended. Keywords: August Riots; Folk Devils and Moral Panics; Financial Capitalism; Class/command Dynamic; Class Politics; Movements for Change; Recommendations for a Purposive Research Programme (search for similar items in EconPapers) Downloads: (external link) Related works: Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:sae:socres:v:16:y:2011:i:4:p:227-230 DOI: 10.5153/sro.2556 Access Statistics for this article More articles in Sociological Research Online |
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