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Contemporary understanding of riots: classical crowd psychology, ideology and the social identity approach
This article explores the origins and ideology of classical crowd psychology, a body of theory reflected in contemporary popularised understandings such as of the 2011 English ‘riots’. This article argues that during the nineteenth century, the crowd came to symbolise a fear of ‘mass society’ and that ‘classical’ crowd psychology was a product of these fears. Classical crowd psychology pathologised, reified and decontextualised the crowd, offering the ruling elites a perceived opportunity to control it. We contend that classical theory misrepresents crowd psychology and survives in contemporary understanding because it is ideological. We conclude by discussing how classical theory has been supplanted in academic contexts by an identity-based crowd psychology that restores the meaning to crowd action, replaces it in its social context and in so doing transforms theoretical understanding of ‘riots’ and the nature of the self.
History
Publication status
- Published
File Version
- Accepted version
Journal
Public Understanding of ScienceISSN
0963-6625Publisher
SAGE PublicationsExternal DOI
Issue
1Volume
26Page range
2-14Department affiliated with
- Psychology Publications
Full text available
- Yes
Peer reviewed?
- Yes
Legacy Posted Date
2016-04-04First Open Access (FOA) Date
2017-09-01First Compliant Deposit (FCD) Date
2016-04-04Usage metrics
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