Matthew Aslett/Demotix/Corbis
For weeks on end, a succession of pundits and politicians came up with different explanations for the English riots of 2011. It was about poor parenting said some. It was about broken communities said others. It was about black culture or the consumer society or gangs or even rap music depending on who you listened to.
Among politicians at least, there seemed to be general agreement that this was about criminality — ‘criminality pure and simple’ as the prime minister, David Cameron, put it as he flew back from Italy to confront the waiting press (Reicher and Clifford 2011).
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