Abstract from the distributor:
The recent events in several cities across the UK, and more widely in Europe, have raised fundamental questions about the legitimacy of public programs, the crisis-prone nature of economies and ongoing resentment and anger at social inequality and injustice. Despite frequent political and media pronouncements of organised criminality, grounded examinations of riots in the UK and elsewhere highlight how social inequality, policing practices, the embedding of consumption orientations and feelings of injustice have produced social danger and violence in excluded localities. Nuanced, empirically founded and critical accounts are needed of these events. This conference, organised by CURB, sought to contextualise urban unrest within broader, structural concerns around economic decline, social injustice and criminal cultures. The cohesion of many, apparently ‘broken’ communities, and their capacity to regain control and promote safety belie on-going anger and resentment at corporate excess, media misconduct and political illegitimacy. The meeting explored these issues in detail and provided a space to debate the broader causes and consequences of these events.
