In this book David Mansley argues that the frequency with which violence intrudes on to the streets is related to both how society is governed and how it is policed. With the help of an innovative methodology, he quantifies and tests three variables – collective violence, democracy and protest policing – using protests in Great Britain in 1999–2011, for his sampling frame. The result is the design of new tools of measurement and a harvest of new data, including previously unpublished details of banning orders and riot damages, that enable us to reflect, with the benefit of broad sociological perspective, on the causes of contemporary violent events.
Mansley’s explanation of the trends he identifies draws from the work of the best thinkers on violence – especially Charles Tilly, Thomas Hobbes and Norbert Elias. He shows how the style of protest policing and the depth of democracy, both of which function under the direction of the political economy, are crucial to the state’s credentials as the monopoly supplier of legitimate violence. His discussion touches on such current topics as the institution of police commissioners, the privatisation of policing duties, and the decline in homicide.
This cultured study, which includes an engaging review of the existing scholarship on violence, is essential material for undergraduate and postgraduate students reading criminology, sociology or political theory.
1. Introduction, 2. Democracy and violence, 3.State violence, 4. How to measure violence, plus other methodological issues, 5. Findings, 6. Discussion, 7. Conclusion.
Biography
David R. Mansley read criminology at undergraduate level, before reading a Master’s degree in sociological research and a PhD in sociology at Lancaster University. His thesis on collective violence was supervised by Prof. Sylvia Walby OBE and Dr. Ian Paylor, and sponsored by the ESRC. He spent fifteen months writing for select committees at the House of Commons.
‘David Mansley’s distinctive accomplishment in this book is the combination of innovation and scholarship, achieving breadth without compromise to depth. This coherent, nuanced, contextualised well-judged book is the benchmark against which all others in this field should be judged.’
Ian Paylor, Department of Sociology, Lancaster University, UK
‘In this wide-ranging and innovative book David Mansley shows how interpersonal and collective violence and democratic political processes are connected. He does this through a combination of erudite engagement with the social and political theory of Tilly, Elias, Hobbes and many others, with detailed and systematic empirical analysis of UK trends in violence, policing and democratic participation.
This is an important book for criminologists, sociologists, political scientists and anyone interested in understanding the nature of contemporary protest and democracy.’
Larry Ray, Professor of Sociology, University of Kent, UK
