COLIN HAY, Mobilization through Interpellation: James Bulger, Juvenzle Crime and the Construction of a Moral Panic
| Published date | 01 June 1995 |
| Date | 01 June 1995 |
| DOI | 10.1177/096466399500400208 |
| Subject Matter | Articles |
Europe
to
secure
amendments
to
the
Social
Chapter
as
the
basis
for
a
European
Union
law
establishing
minimum
common
rights
to
strike.
COLIN
HAY,
Mobilization
through
Interpellation:
James
Bulger, Juvenzle
Crime
and
the
Construction
of a
Moral
Panic
On
12
February
1993,
two-year-old James
Bulger
wandered
away
from
his
mother
in
the
Strand
shopping
centre
in
Bootle
near
Liverpool,
England.
He
was
subsequently
abducted.
As
his
mother
anxiously
scoured
the
precinct,
security
cameras
on
another
floor
filmed
’little
James’
following
two
elder
boys
towards
the
exit
’on
his
grim
walk
to
death’
(Daily
Express,
25
November
1993).
Two
days
later
his
bruised,
battered
and
severed
body
was
found
on
a
railway
line
over
two
miles
away.
Two
ten-year-old
boys
were
charged
and
subsequently
convicted
with
his
abduction
and
murder.
In
this article
I
consider
the
peculiar
significance
and
resonances
of
the
Bulger
case,
and
the
ways
in
which
the
video
footage
of
the
abduction
of
James
Bulger
has
come
to
act
as
a
point
of
condensation
for
wider
social
anxieties.
I
reflect
upon
the
role
of
the
media
in
the
recruiting
of
subjects -
through
interpellation -
as
subjects
to,
and
participants tn
moral
panics.
This
process
of
’mobilization
through
interpellation’
is
demonstrated
through
a
detailed
interrogation
of
the
rhetorical
strategies,
textual
practices
and
linguistic
devices
deployed
by
the
tabloid
media
in
the
narration
of
this
contemporary
moral
panic.
LESLIE J.
MORAN,
Violence
and
the
Law:
The
Case
of Sado-Masochism
On
the
11
March
1993
the
final
court
of
appeal
in
England
and
Wales,
the
House
of
Lords,
published
a
collection
of
opinions
dealing
with
the
legality
of
a
series
of
acts
that
were
described
by
the
court
as
acts
of
homosexual
sado-masochism
(S/M).
These
judicial
pronouncements
are
the
object
of
consideration
in
this
article.
In
general,
the
study
develops
an
anlaysis
of
the
legal
practices
through
which
these
acts
were
made
legible
in
law.
In
particular,
the
article
explores
the
intelligibilities
by
which
the
sense
and
nonsense
of
the
male
bodies
and
desires
as
homosexual
S/M
is
made
in
law.
Drawing
upon
the
writings
of
S/M
practitioners,
recent
sociological
studies
of
S/M
practice
and
S/M
communities
and
the
work
of
Deleuze,
Foucault
and
Girard,
the
article
develops
an
analysis
and
critique
of
a
theme
that
dominates
the
judicial
attempts
to
make
the
sense
and
nonsense
of
these
bodies
and
desires;
the
relationship
between
law
and
violence.
ANN
STEWART,
Debating
Gender Justice
in
India
Gender
justice
is
on
the
agenda
in
India.
Indian
activists
join
a
growing
network
of
women
in
the
South
who
are
focusing
on
law
in
their
particular
struggles
to
improve
women’s
position
in
society.
The
debates
generated
by
these
activities
reveal
the
inadequacies
of
traditional,
gender-blind
ways
of
analysing
law
in
’developing’
countries
as
well
as
providing
challenges
for
feminist
legal
practice.
276
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