Suburbia Runs Riot: The UK August 2011 Riots, Neo-Moral Panic and the End of the English Suburban Dream?

Abstract

In August 2011, a chain of events unfolded that resulted in riots on Britain’s streets. Yet, unlike previous comparable incidences in 1981 or 2001, it was not just symbols of authority located in city centres that sustained damage. London locations of the disorder not only included Tottenham where trouble began before its spread countrywide but Croydon and Ealing: both suburban locations far removed from the capital’s core where high street stores – once the type of marker that made suburban living advantageous – were chief targets. Malcolm Wicks MP in Parliament even referred to Croydon on the night as resembling a “war zone”. There appeared to have been a nasty upset to the usual expected state of affairs that Medhurst (1997, p. 244) has referred to as “what one might call the newslessness of suburbia … a cornerstone of the vision of tranquillity that sold the suburban dream”. This paper seeks to explore whether the moral panic set in motion by these distinctly post-millennial events indicates a decline of the inter-war suburban ideal that was seen by all political sides as the ultimate way of life to aspire to. It is argued that suburbia, once presumed to be a place of tradition and conservatism, is in fact changing on multiple fronts. Indeed, the 2011 riots raise a number of themes relevant to contemporary suburbia as do their apotheosis the 2012 Olympic games which took place a year on including globalisation, multiculturalism, consumerism and old and new media amongst others.

Notes

1. Lindsell (2011) “Rumours of Kingston riot unfounded” in Kingston Guardian 9/8/11 at http://www.kingstonguardian.co.uk/news/9184590.Rumours_of_Kingston_riot_unfounded/?ref=rss&utm_source=twitterfeed&utm_medium=twitter

2. Hamilton, M. (2011) “UK riots: nine ways to use Twitter responsibly” 10/8/11 at http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/blog/2011/aug/10/uk-riots-responsible-use-of-twitter

3. http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm201011/cmhansrd/cm110811/debtext/110811-0001.htm

4. See http://www.historyandpolicy.org/opinion/opinion_89.html

5. http://www.communities.gov.uk/speeches/localgovernment/2018326

6. See http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/news/3109791/.html

7. See “Far right thugs warn: ‘A n^∗∗∗∗r is going to get it’,” in The Voice 10/8/11 at http://www.voice-online.co.uk/article/far-right-thugs-warn-%E2%80%98-nr-going-get-it%E2%80%99

8. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-14434318

9. http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/poll/2011/aug/12/riots-water-theft-punishment, http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2011/dec/07/twitter-riots-how-news-spread

10. Eg see http://socialismandorbarbarism.blogspot.co.uk/2011/08/open-letter-to-those-who-condemn_10.html, http://www.davidosler.com/2011/08/london-riots-initial-reaction/, http://www.socialistworker.co.uk/topic.php?id=102, http://thecommune.co.uk/2011/08/10/nothing-to-lose-nothing-to-win/