A Conference Report for GEA
Over the past year, academics have brought critical perspectives to bear on the complex causes and consequences of the English riots of 2011. Important questions have been raised about the relationship between the riots and the increasingly hostile conditions of neolib
eralism and Coalition policies, including: growing unemployment, rising tuition fees, the withdrawal of the EMA, cuts to Sure Start and an overhaul of welfare provision. Re-visiting the causes, consequences and ongoing effects of the riots has been vital, particularly when key policy figures, such as London Mayor Boris Johnson and Prime Minister David Cameron have dismissed the need for any sociological analysis, claiming the rioters were simply driven by pure criminality, greed and opportunism. On the 28th September 2012 myself, Yvette Taylor of The Weeks Centre for Social and Policy Research (London South Bank University) and Sumi Hollingworth and Ayo Mansaray of the Institute for Policy Studies in Education (London Metropolitan University) held a one day collaborative conference ‘Collisions, Coalitions and Riotous Subjects: The Riots One Year On’ to provide a space for the kinds of critical debates and questioning so readily dismissed by our politicians. Continue reading “Collisions, Coalitions and Riotous Subjects: The Riots One Year On”