In August 2011, London and many other English towns and cities erupted into some of the worst rioting for decades. David Cameron blamed a broken society with a sick morality; Tony Blair a defiant underclass. Yet with no evidence to support their claims, their remarks were typical of the storm of uninformed comments that followed the riots, based largely on longstanding misconceptions of why people riot. With their extensive expertise in crowd behaviour and psychology, and years of research experience studying crowds, riots and hooliganism worldwide, psychologists Steve Reicher and Cliff Stott challenge the myths of the 2011 riots perpetuated in the media and elsewhere; consider the reality on the ground and how to avoid a repeat scenario.

This fascinating book is the first volume in a projected cultural history of the United States, from the earliest English settlements to our own time. It is a history of American folkways as they have changed through time, and it argues a thesis about the importance for the United States of having been British in its cultural origins. While most people in the United States today have no British ancestors, they have assimilated regional cultures which were created by British colonists, even while preserving ethnic identities at the same time. In this sense, nearly all Americans are "Albion's Seed," no matter what their ethnicity may be. The concluding section of this remarkable book explores the ways that regional cultures have continued to dominate national politics from 1789 to 1988, and still help to shape attitudes toward education, government, gender, and violence, on which differences between American regions are greater than between European nations.

Rabies was a constant threat in Victorian Britain and gripped popular imagination, not least because its human form, hydrophobia, produced a vile death with the mind and body out of control. This book explores the changing understanding of rabies amongst veterinarians, animal welfare campaigners, state officials, politicians and the public.

From Facebook, Twitter, BlackBerry and gossip to hard facts, research and empirical investigation, this outstanding collection looks at the nature and causes of the English Riots of 2011 one year after they occurred. Though worrying in their nature, speed and scale, the book points out that rioting is nothing new - even if technological advances have altered their 'organization', the way in which the police respond and the incessant nature of media coverage. From 'moral panics' to 'broken Britain' and anxieties about youth crime, the book looks at various flashpoints of the riots such as the killing of Mark Duggan by police marksmen, the widespread looting, the political and criminal justice responses and a growing discontent about the current neoliberal order. The book rejects Coalition Prime Minister David Cameron's much-publicized assertion that these events were 'criminality, pure and simple', just as it counters attempts to lay blame on sections of the community or 'outsiders'. Looking at phenomena such as 'shopping for free' and the idea that the lawlessness represented some kind of instant carnival, it concentrates on how order was restored and individuals fast-tracked via police cells and courts into harsh sentences as well as issues of marginality, hopelessness, political and economic corruption and media distortions. Wide-ranging and expert in its analysis, it also considers the modern-day global context for riots as well as comparing Brixton 1981 and other iconic events of the past. Further highlights include: the role of new social media in terms of recruitment, resistance, and surveillance; the role of the urban street gang; gender, racialization, resentment, post-riot rhetoric and the profiling the 2011 rioters. It looks at how the riots spread to other cities in the UK including Manchester, Liverpool and Birmingham - as well as examining events and attitudes in places such as Spain, Greece, and those of the Arab Spring. Asks Who, When and Why? Includes first-hand accounts from 2011 rioters, victims and the public Applies historical, cultural, structural and social perspectives to the English Riots of 2011 Considers the aftermath of the riots and the wider picture of global social unrest Editor Dr Daniel Briggs is a Reader in Criminology and Criminal Justice at the University of East London who also works with the most vulnerable people to the most dangerous and the most misunderstood. His work has taken him into prisons, crack houses, mental health institutions, asylum institutions, hostels, care homes, hospices and places for the homeless. He is the author of Crack Cocaine Users: High Society and Low Life in South London (Routledge, 2011). Contributors In this book he is assisted by contributions from some 20 leading commentators: Stephanie Alice Baker, Tim Bateman, Steve Briggs, Joel Busher, Celia Diaz-Catalan, Rebecca Clarke, Aisha K. Gill, Steve Hall, Simon Harding, Vicky Heap, Steven Hirschler, Liz Kelly, Axel Klein, Lorenzo Navarrete-Moreno, Geoffrey Pearson, Hannah Smithson, John Strawson, Sheldon Thomas, Simon Winlow and Ricardo Zuniga.

Drawing on a wide range of social science disciplines and approaches, each chapter in this book offers a comprehensive analysis of social protest, political dissent and collective action. The distinguished scholars contributing to the book discuss some of the key theoretical and methodological issues in social protest research, and analyse recent instances of collective dissent around the globe, ranging from the 15M movement in Spain, to the 2011 Salford riots in the UK, to Pro-Palestinian activism in Jerusalem. The result of these contributions is a sophisticated and multifaceted collection that enriches our understanding of why, when, and how groups of people decide to act collectively in order to pursue political change. The book is a timely testament to the vitality of the field. This book was originally published as a special issue of Contemporary Social Science.

The police service in England and Wales is facing major challenges in its financing, political oversight and reorganisation of its structures. Current economic conditions have created a wholly new environment whereby cost saving is permitting hitherto unthinkable changes in the style and means of delivery of policing services. In the context of these proposed changes Lord Stevens, formerly Commissioner of the Metropolitan Police Service was asked to chair an Independent Commission looking into the future of policing. The Commission has a wide ranging remit and the papers in this book offer up-to-date analysis of contemporary problems from the novel perspective of developing a reform agenda to assist the Commission. Bringing together contributions from both key academic thinkers and police professionals, this book discusses new policing paradigms, lays out a case for an evidence-based practice approach and draws attention to developing areas such as terrorism, public order and hate crime. Policing is too important to be left to politicians, as the health of a democracy may be judged by the relationship between the police and the public. The aim of this book is to question and present analyses of problems offer new ideas and propose realistically achievable solutions without being so timid as to preserve the status quo. It will be of interest to both academics and students in the fields of criminology and policing studies, as well as professionals in the policing service, NGOs and local authority organisations.

The past ten years have been marked by a series of high profile and heavily mediatised riots across the globe. From the overspill of racial tensions in Sydney to anti-police riots in London, democratic societies have witnessed powerful and costly outbursts of anger and violence. But what are the causes of these large-scale episodes of collective disorder? Do they share common features? And what can they tell us about the nature and significance of riots more broadly? In this book, the authors address these questions and more with a wide-ranging comparative study of rioting in five countries (Australia, England, France, Greece and the United States). Using a revised and expanded version of the Flashpoints Model of Public Disorder, Matthew Moran and David Waddington dissect these violent and ephemeral social phenomena, laying bare their internal logic and demonstrating the essentially political nature of riots.