Review: Northern Soul: Drugs, Crime and Social Identity in the Northern Soul Scene Andrew Wilson Willan Publishing, 2007; pp 214; £42.00, hbk ISBN-13: 978—1—84392—208—7
| Published date | 01 September 2008 |
| DOI | 10.1177/02645505080550030705 |
| Date | 01 September 2008 |
| Author | James Treadwell |
| Subject Matter | Articles |
from the governor: ‘They were in tatters, soaked through with rain, spattered with
mud and shivering, their chill faces frozen with cold. I was seeing the extreme degree
of human degradation, lower than which it is simply impossible to go’ (p 145).
Chekhov’s publication of his journey in 1895 caused enormous interest in Russia,
and led to the end of corporal punishment in penal colonies. Is it still relevant
today? You have only to think of what Chekhov would have made of the intro-
duction of American-style SuperMax prisons in the United Kingdom housing over
2000 offenders each, to know the answer to that question. This accessible, recent
and well-translated edition of Chekhov’s classic prison study is well worth the read.
References
Dickens, C. (1842) American Notes for General Circulation. London: Penguin.
Dostoevsky, F. (1860) The House of the Dead. London: Penguin.
John Harding
Visiting Professor of Criminal Justice Studies, University of Hertfordshire
Northern Soul: Drugs, Crime
and Social Identity in the
Northern Soul Scene
Andrew Wilson
Willan Publishing, 2007; pp 214; £42.00, hbk
ISBN-13: 978–1–84392–208–7
Wilson’s extensive ethnography of the ‘Northern Soul’ music
scene is an excellent and captivating academic study.
Spanning over three decades, the book tells the story of
how the music of black American soul artists became
‘anthems’ for predominantly white working class youths, whose attendance at ‘all
night’ dance events set the scene for a remarkably durable subculture.
Long before rave culture, ‘Northern Soul’ clubs were attracting young people
looking to dance all night. Northern Soul also pre-empted more contemporary
concerns about ecstasy, as many of those attending ‘all nighters’ were taking drugs;
initially pharmaceutical amphetamine pills; later, this changed to manufactured
amphetamine in powdered form. A much smaller minority (which seemingly dispro-
portionately included those young men with experience of approved schools and
borstals) became involved in supply and, in some cases, in chemist shop burglary.
Wilson’s involvement in the scene was substantial, and he writes passionately
on the culture and music of ‘the scene’. This alone is a valuable addition to a
much neglected aspect of working class youth culture. While academics at the
Birmingham Centre for Contemporary Cultural Studies (BCCCS) at Birmingham
University busied themselves providing rich ethnographic documentation of the
Probation Journal
310 55(3)
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