On reflection, I have further points to draw out from the experience I describe my blog entry
And this is an experience of daily living that is imbued with personal and cultural trauma, that in itself leads to disaffection, withdrawal, disconnection and alienation: the qualities that are physically manifest and reflected in the run down dangerous precincts of the estates themselves, but this is a social problem than
The blog entry is is based on my own experience, and approached in a first attempt at putting the riots (and my own experience into perspective)
From my own experience of living, as a young mother, in those conditions I found that personal and cultural trauma seems to result from the living in the atmosphere of social disadvantage that is constructed in the system of subsidised housing and benefits. As I said in the blog entry, it is as if there is a price to pay, a penalty for going onto social security benefits and subsidised council housing. The price is a loss of social status that is conferred by the system, and which, it seems, is (currently) existentially impossible to escape whilst one is in that atmosphere. As a young mother, that pressure is intensified.
The 'have-nots' forced into this role feel the affects, the shame and sense of failure of being losers, and this effects how they feel about themselves and society. The English class constructions of 'haves' and 'have-nots' leads to other-ing. The riots occurred after the announcements of the austerity measures, when services to the poor including youth clubs and libraries were
The danger is that is only the 'effects' are addressed through measures such as rioters being thrown into jail for lengthy sentences, this does not address let alone try to solve the problem of the causes that create social unrest in the first place, that is the personal and cultural trauma attendant on severe social disadvantage. When did it ever happen that a happy fulfilled person created social mayhem and "mindless crime" at least of the publicly visible, violent, performative kind of riots and open looting that broke out en masse in cities across England? It doesn't happen.
Poor people who live in council estates are human, and they react as humans (in this case they react, badly, as humans who are disconnected and alienated and angry). If the social disadvantages that create such an atmosphere are not addressed, and ways found to engage the current generation of 'lost ' and socially excluded young people in England - and other cities around the world- such outbursts of 'bad behaviour' , of anger, rage and fury will no doubt keep on recurring. It is in the interests of all in society, including those at the top, to find ways of improving the life opportunities and experiences of those born into less fortunate circumstances, to think broadly and apply socially just policies, that apply to all rich and poor alike, for the greater good of all.
UK Riots: "A Punishment for Being Poor"? - life as a young mother on a London council estate
is that, in a way, anyone can find themselves in the situation of being down and out; but that it is only perhaps when you experience this yourself that you can truly empathise with and understand the reality that it is the 'atmosphere' generated by the social system and the lived experience of being constructed as socially disadvantaged that is produced on inner city 'sink' housing estates, that produces social unrest and disorder manifest in anti-social behaviour exemplified in the roots and looting.And this is an experience of daily living that is imbued with personal and cultural trauma, that in itself leads to disaffection, withdrawal, disconnection and alienation: the qualities that are physically manifest and reflected in the run down dangerous precincts of the estates themselves, but this is a social problem than
The blog entry is is based on my own experience, and approached in a first attempt at putting the riots (and my own experience into perspective)
From my own experience of living, as a young mother, in those conditions I found that personal and cultural trauma seems to result from the living in the atmosphere of social disadvantage that is constructed in the system of subsidised housing and benefits. As I said in the blog entry, it is as if there is a price to pay, a penalty for going onto social security benefits and subsidised council housing. The price is a loss of social status that is conferred by the system, and which, it seems, is (currently) existentially impossible to escape whilst one is in that atmosphere. As a young mother, that pressure is intensified.
The 'have-nots' forced into this role feel the affects, the shame and sense of failure of being losers, and this effects how they feel about themselves and society. The English class constructions of 'haves' and 'have-nots' leads to other-ing. The riots occurred after the announcements of the austerity measures, when services to the poor including youth clubs and libraries were
The danger is that is only the 'effects' are addressed through measures such as rioters being thrown into jail for lengthy sentences, this does not address let alone try to solve the problem of the causes that create social unrest in the first place, that is the personal and cultural trauma attendant on severe social disadvantage. When did it ever happen that a happy fulfilled person created social mayhem and "mindless crime" at least of the publicly visible, violent, performative kind of riots and open looting that broke out en masse in cities across England? It doesn't happen.
Poor people who live in council estates are human, and they react as humans (in this case they react, badly, as humans who are disconnected and alienated and angry). If the social disadvantages that create such an atmosphere are not addressed, and ways found to engage the current generation of 'lost ' and socially excluded young people in England - and other cities around the world- such outbursts of 'bad behaviour' , of anger, rage and fury will no doubt keep on recurring. It is in the interests of all in society, including those at the top, to find ways of improving the life opportunities and experiences of those born into less fortunate circumstances, to think broadly and apply socially just policies, that apply to all rich and poor alike, for the greater good of all.
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