Academic seeks new understanding of rioters
28-11-11
Published: Guardian
Not too many academics have finished up with a broken nose as a consequence of their research. But few academics spend long periods talking to young people on deprived estates. The threat of violence, then, is an occupational hazard for Professor Simon Hallsworth, director of the Centre for Social and Evaluation Research at London Metropolitan University, and the UK's leading expert on gang culture.
Two years ago, the threat became a reality after he took a short cut through "a dodgy part of Hackney". "I finished up on the ground being kicked by a group who mugged me." But he seems sanguine. "You either let that kind of thing get to you or you don't. At least it gives you an appreciation of the violence that is a regular part of so many lives because of conditions that they can't escape from."
What there are not, he maintains, are as many organised gangs as the media and the government would have us believe. "Those that do exist are a lot more fluid and lack the hierarchical structure that the stereotype attributes to them," he says.
 (2).jpg)