Reicher, S. and C. Stott (2011). MAD MOBS AND ENGLISHMEN? MYTHS AND REALITIES OF THE 2011 RIOTS

When unexpected and dramatic events occur there is an imperative in many quarters to conjure some explanation for them. In the wake of the 2011 riots in England Professor Steve Reicher and Dr Cliff Stott have eagerly sought to satisfy this hunger with the publication of this book devoted to correcting what they believe are misleading explanations of the riots as ‘all about criminality’ and oppose the knee-jerk response of politicians to ‘get tough’. They have strong credentials for doing so: they are acknowledged experts in crowd psychology and proponents of an influential theoretical explanation, and have collaborated with police in several European countries on crowd-control issues. Had they restricted themselves to counselling caution, then I would have endorsed their view unreservedly. However, they go beyond this limited manifesto: they clothe their argument with the mantle of ‘science’, they claim support from accumulated research; and they insist that they are able to say ‘what actually went on’. About all of this I have serious reservations.