Book review: Daniel Briggs (ed.), The English Riots of 2011: A Summer of Discontent
| Date | 01 August 2013 |
| Published date | 01 August 2013 |
| DOI | 10.1177/1362480613494306 |
| Author | John Lea |
| Subject Matter | Book reviews |
494306TCR17310.1177/1362480613494306Theoretical CriminologyBook reviews
2013
Theoretical Criminology
17(3) 417 –432
Book reviews
© The Author(s) 2013
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DOI: 10.1177/1362480613494306
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Daniel Briggs (ed.), The English Riots of 2011: A Summer of Discontent, Waterside Press:
Sherfield, 2012; 432 pp.: 9781904380887, £20 (pbk)
Reviewed by: John Lea, University of Brighton, UK
The English riots of 2011 have generated a diverse and growing literature, much of it
within criminology. This sizeable reader is one of the first collections on the riots, with
many chapters originating as conference papers. Like many such collections, it exhibits
a healthy eclecticism covering the riots from a variety of perspectives including race,
gender and policing among others. It is to the credit of the editor to have quickly assem-
bled such a wide-ranging collection.
A short review is inevitably selective. However, it is possible to detect an important
discussion running through several of the chapters concerning the core character of the
riots. Given the predominance of looting, especially as rioting spread beyond London to
other urban centres in England, many discussions sought to examine whether the riots
were about politics or consumption, a form of protest or a violent shopping spree.
Daniel Briggs, in his introduction, sees consumerism as trumping politics. On the basis
of interviews with rioters conducted some time after the events he concludes that ‘it’s true
that inequality and injustice play some role, but the narratives were also heavily structured
around a desire for consumption—claiming the “free stuff” as they saw it’ (p. 36). Two
problems are immediately evident. First, we are not told much about where these interviews
come from and there is certainly no attempt at engagement—methodological or otherwise—
with the large scale interviewing and research undertaken by the Reading the...
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