The Aesthetics of Anti-social Behaviour

Abstract

From the late-1990s onwards, anti-social behaviour has been high on the political agenda in Britain. This chapter draws on philosophical, criminological and other writings to unpick some influences of aesthetic taste on what is perceived to be anti-social. The meaning and subjectivity of aesthetic judgment are considered, with examples given that may lead to censure and 'banishment' -such as wearing a hoodie, writing the wrong sort of graffiti or being visibly homeless. Due to its influence on British policy, Wilson and Kelling's (1982) 'broken windows' is given particular attention and, in line with Ferrell (2006), is seen as an aesthetic theory that makes various assumptions as to what -or who -act as signals of urban decay. The chapter considers whether it is ever right to censure aesthetic taste and simply banish the unsightly. Instead, it is suggested that respect for difference could alternatively be promoted.

The Aesthetics of Anti-social Behaviour

“…The hoodie, along with a baseball cap, 'designer' sports attire and trainers is the uniform of the 'chav' 1 (Hayward and Yar, 2006) or 'ned' 2 (Brown, 2008) -the young working class that, to use Korsmeyer's words (2005: 275), are condescended as having 'inferior tastes.' Famously, the Bluewater shopping centre in Kent was the first to ban the wearing of hoodies (Hayward and Yar, 2006;Millie, 2009a), ostensively so that all could be seen by their CCTV systems; but also to ally the prejudicial concerns of other customers that hoodie wearing youths were anti-social -despite hoodies being on sale within the shopping centre. According to Hayward and Yar: [...] street-level attempts to mobilize cultural capital based on overt displays of designer clothing have instead inspired a whole new raft of bizarre micro social control mechanisms, including everything from town centre pubs and night clubs refusing entry to individuals wearing certain brands within their premises [...] to the recent 'zero tolerance' policy imposed on 'designer hoodies' and baseball caps [...] by major shopping centres [...].…”

“…Of course, at the end of the twentieth century, anti-social behaviour was nothing new, a fact highlighted in other contributions to this volume. Yet, following pressure on MPs from constituents facing difficulties with people labelled as 'neighbours from hell' (Straw, 1996;Field, 2003) -and influenced by American zero-tolerance policing strategies (Millie, 2009a(Millie, ) -the 1997(Millie, -2010 New Labour government made anti-social behaviour one of its key policy targets. Being anti-social was defined by New Labour as behaving 'in a manner that caused or was likely to cause harassment, alarm or distress to one or more persons not of the same household as [the perpetrator]' (Crime and Disorder Act, 1998, s.1(1a)).…”

Nipping Crime in the Bud? The Use of Antisocial Behaviour Interventions with Young People in England and Wales

“…Although responses to ASB have received considerable academic attention (e.g. Brown 2004;Burney 2005;Crawford 2009;Crawford 2013;Millie 2009), conceptual debate has often proceeded ahead of an empirical base, or emerged from small-scale studies focused on single ASB interventions (e.g. Campbell 2002; Bullock and Jones 2004;Donoghue 2010).…”

Responding to anti-social behaviour: Analysis, interventions and the transfer of knowledge

“…In developing tools to tackle ASB, the UK government has looked to the United States for inspiration, and in turn other countries -notably Australia -have watched the UK response with interest (Burney, 2005;Millie, 2009).…”