Shaping the night: How licensing, social divisions and informal social controls mould the form and content of nightlife

Marginal Organizations

“…Organizations accepting this path become potential change agents working with society and its stakeholders. Hadfield and Measham's (2009) position that effective licensing can positively affect crime prevention is an illustration. "Licensing frameworks," they write, "serve to delineate certain forms of social and cultural activities by prescribing the times and places [in their illustration] in which nightlife can occur.…”

Todo empieza con «E»: Exclusión, etnicidad y formación de élites en el mundo actual de las discotecas inglesas

“…Por otro lado, en Gran Bretaña la regeneración de zonas urbanas a través de la expansión de la economía del ocio nocturno (en adelante EON) ha generado el desarrollo de un cuerpo paralelo de investigaciones sociales que analizan el contenido y el contexto de la vida nocturna «popular» 11,12 . Sin embargo, sigue dominando la noción de un espíritu PAUR incluyente dentro de la cultura de discoteca y de una dicotomía entre vida nocturna comercial/«popular» frente a la «auténtica»/underground 13 , con tipologías de nightclubs y de discotecas que hasta la fecha han minimizado el nivel de comercialización que existe en las culturas de discoteca contemporáneas y el alcance de la diferenciación y fragmentación dentro de la corriente denominada «popular» 14 .…”

“…11,12 Yet, notions of an inclusive PLUR ethos within club cultures and of a commercial/ 'mainstream' versus 'authentic'/ underground nightlife dichotomy remain prominent, 13 with typologies of nightclubs and dance clubs to date having tended to minimise both the degree of commercialisation that exists within contemporary club cultures and the extent of differentiation and fragmentation within the so-called 'mainstream'. 14 This paper draws analysis from a sustained body of empirical research conducted by the authors in situ in a range of licensed leisure venues across the NTE which cut across these discourses. Firstly, Measham's research over the last two decades has broadly explored changing cultures of intoxication within English pubs, bars, dance clubs and nightclubs, with her rave and dance club research from the early-1990s onwards drawing on her ongoing participation in the jungle/drum and bass scene since its inception.…”

“…Otras discotecas duraron menos. Por ejemplo, el antedicho espectáculo de drum and bass, Guidance, cerró después de un violento incidente que coincidió con una relajación de sus rígidas medidas de seguridad, como explica su promotor Jamac: Y así, no sólo la policía, los permisos y las autoridades locales 14 , sino también la gerencia de las discotecas y el personal de seguridad, utilizaron el «gangsterismo» para legitimar la marginación de los ambientes de MDE de Manchester, con la «lógica» de que la música negra atrae al público «con-flictivo» y provoca problemas 45 , una lógica que se aplicó a las promociones de drum and bass de Jamac y a una serie de espectáculos de música negra:…”

“…Thus not only for police, licensing and local authorities, 14 but also for dance club management and security staff, 'gangsterism' was used to legitimate the discouragement of Manchester's black EDM scenes through the 'logic' that black music attracts the 'wrong' crowds and leads to trouble, 45 a logic which was applied to Jamac's drum and bass promotions and to a range of other black music nights: The 'solution' to the perceived 'gangster' problem in Manchester, then, was for high profile dance clubs to have a music policy which discouraged attendance by minority ethnic and working class communities. The assumption was that this -alongside the use of dress codes, discussed below -would reduce the risk of trouble, effectively using music as an exclusionary tactic, a form of crowd control and indirect discrimination.…”