The Disorderly Crowd: From Classical Psychological Reductionism to Socio-Contextual Theory - The Impact on Public Order Policing Strategies

Abstract

Following the publication in 1895 of Gustav Le Bon's seminal work, The Crowd: A Study of the Popular Mind, psychological explanations of collective disorder unremittingly emphasised the supposedly anomalous and irrational nature of the phenomenon. Recently, however, this 'classical' theoretical tradition has been supplanted by increasingly enlightened social psychological and socio-political approaches which emphasise the importance to our understanding of the contexts, dynamics and underlying meanings of episodes of public disorder. This article outlines the evolution of these theoretical perspectives and notes the extent to which they appear to have induced corresponding shifts in police public order strategy.

Reflections on why riots don’t happen

“…First, and centrally, is the 'flashpoints' approach developed by David Waddington and colleagues over many years (see for example Waddington et al, 1989;King and Waddington, 2006). Its authors argue that the flashpoints model attempts 'to theorize the factors found … to be crucial determinants of order and disorder' (Waddington et al, 1989: 157 emphasis added) and as such it is a useful starting point for the question at issue here.…”

“…First, and centrally, is the 'flashpoints' approach developed by David Waddington and colleagues over many years (see for example Waddington et al, 1989;King and Waddington, 2006). Its authors argue that the flashpoints model attempts 'to theorize the factors found … to be crucial determinants of order and disorder' (Waddington et al, 1989: 157 emphasis added) and as such it is a useful starting point for the question at issue here. It seeks to differentiate between six levels of analysis: the structural (the material circumstances of different social groups, their relationship with the state, and how such factors relate to conflict); political/ideological (the relationship between dissenting groups to political and ideological institutions and how dissenting groups are treated by those institutions); cultural (the ways in which different social groups understand the social world and their place in it), contextual (the long-term and more immediate backdrop to relationships -for example between particular groups and the police -within which disorder occurs); situational (the spatial and social determinants of disorder); and the interactional (the dynamics of interaction between police and protestors).…”

‘The biggest gang’? Police and people in the 2011 England riots

“…Such words, and the metaphor that underpins them, suggest that there may be a variety of fairly deep and long-standing structural 'causes' linked to rioting (poverty and racism would be two examples) but that something else beyond these is required to provoke, incite or otherwise stimulate or enflame people into violent protest. The work both of sociologists (for example Waddington, 1992) and psychologists (Reicher, 1984;Stott and Drury, 2000) has highlighted the often critical role of the police in the emergence and spread of rioting. Waddington et al (1989) use the phrase 'flashpoints' and argue that incidents become 'flashpoints' not because they contain some inherent characteristics that lead inevitably to the breakdown of order, but rather that they are a precursor to riot as a result of the way they are interpreted at the time.…”

“…The work both of sociologists (for example Waddington, 1992) and psychologists (Reicher, 1984;Stott and Drury, 2000) has highlighted the often critical role of the police in the emergence and spread of rioting. Waddington et al (1989) use the phrase 'flashpoints' and argue that incidents become 'flashpoints' not because they contain some inherent characteristics that lead inevitably to the breakdown of order, but rather that they are a precursor to riot as a result of the way they are interpreted at the time. As a consequence there are a great variety of matters that might be perceived as 'flashpoints' and this leads Waddington and colleagues to identify a series of 'levels' of analysis which range from the broad structural, political and cultural contexts in which conflict can arise, through to the situational and interactional features which are potentially important to understanding any outbreak of disorder.…”

Émergence de la notion de « profilage politique » : répression policière et mouvements sociaux au Québec1

“…les populations ; que la police ne fait que réagir à la radicalisation de certains mouvements sociaux qui adoptent des postures plus combatives, y compris face aux forces policières ellesmêmes ; que c'est une conséquence de la diffusion de pratiques policières développées précé-demment et dans d'autres contextes, par exemple face aux « émeutes sportives » et aux actions des hooligans, ou lors d'« émeutes de banlieues », en particulier en France et en GrandeBretagne ; que l'attaque aérienne du 11 septembre 2001 contre les États-Unis a entraîné un durcissement de la répression policière, ou a été un simple catalyseur d'une dynamique déjà à l'oeuvre dans les années 1990 ; que c'est le résultat du développement et de l'acquisition de nouveaux matériels de « contrôle de foule » et de la militarisation de certaines unités de la police. L'objectif de la réflexion développée ici est de présenter le contexte d'émergence de la notion de profilage politique au Québec, en portant une attention particulière à la ville de Montréal (d'autres études ont révélé l'importance d'étudier la répression policière dans un cadre municipal : Rafail, 2005Rafail, et 2010Vitale, 2007 ;Waddington et King, 2007). Plus précisément, il s'agit d'identifier quelle était la dynamique entre la police et les mouvements sociaux lorsque cette nouvelle notion a été avancée dans l'espace public, puis de préciser quelles autres notions ont servi d'inspiration pour proposer cette notion 3 .…”