The explanations of what caused the England riots in 2011 are many. Numerous commentators, politicians and reports tried to make sense of the four days in August 2011 that caused widespread disorder in London and other cities. Although there are both insightful and some less insightful descriptions of its causes, the problem this study identifies and addresses is the absence of a politicisation of the riots.
Whilst the study asks how the explanations function in order to appear apolitical, the task of examining this is undertaken with psychoanalytic theory. In order to conduct such a study the ideas of Slavoj Žižek are drawn upon to develop a theoretical framework and method. Herein the explanations pointing out criminality, moral decline, dysfunctional families and inequality as the causes are analysed to show what must be suppressed in order to steer the causes away from politics.
Table of Contents
1 INTRODUCTION
1.2 RESEARCH OBJECTIVES
1.3 DISPOSITION
1.4 LITERATURE REVIEW
2 THEORETICAL APPROACH
2.1 THE SUBJECT IN LACANIAN PSYCHOANALYSIS
2.2 THE DISCURSIVE OEDIPUS COMPLEX
2.3 TRANSGRESSION AND LAW, THE OTHER AND ENJOYMENT
2.4 THE REAL
2.5 SYMBOLIC AUTHORITY OR GENERALISED PERVERSION
3 RESEARCH STRATEGY
3.1 METHODOLOGICAL APPROACH
3.1.1 EPISTEMOLOGY AND ONTOLOGY IN PSYCHOANALYTIC THEORY
3.1.2 MY ROLE AS RESEARCHER
3.2 MATERIAL AND DATA COLLECTION METHOD
3.3 RESEARCH METHOD
3.3.1 THE ABSTRACT AND CONCRETE UNIVERSAL
3.3.2 DISCURSIVE STRATEGIES
4 DISCUSSION
4.1 CRIMINALITY
4.1.1 THE PROMISE OF WHOLENESS AND DISAVOWAL
4.1.2 EXTERNAL ANTAGONISM
4.2 MORAL DECLINE
4.2.1 THE PROMISE OF WHOLENESS AND DISAVOWAL
4.2.2 EXTERNAL ANTAGONISM
4.3 THE PATERNAL CRISES
4.3.1 THE PROMISE OF WHOLENESS AND DISAVOWAL
4.3.2 EXTERNAL ANTAGONISM
4.4 INEQUALITY
4.4.1 THE PROMISE OF WHOLENESS AND DISAVOWAL
4.4.2 EXTERNAL ANTAGONISM
5 CONCLUSION
6 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
6.1 THEORETICAL APPROACH
6.2 KEY FINDINGS
Research Objectives and Core Themes
This study investigates how the explanations of the 2011 England riots are presented as largely apolitical by examining them through a psychoanalytic framework. The research seeks to problematize the common narratives surrounding the riots and explore how these explanations function to obscure their political dimensions by displacing causes onto specific groups.
- Psychoanalytic discourse analysis using the concepts of Slavoj Žižek and Jacques Lacan.
- Examination of discursive strategies, including disavowal, external antagonism, and the promise of wholeness.
- Deconstruction of four major explanations: criminality, moral decline, dysfunctional families, and inequality.
- Analysis of how the concept of 'Englishness' functions as an empty signifier within these narratives.
Extract from the Book
2.3 Transgression and Law, the Other and Enjoyment
The notion that transgression is dependent on the law and more importantly that the law gives rise to its own transgression is the logic behind the Oedipus complex. For Žižek there is nothing spontaneous in obeying the law, it is a constant battle against ourselves since everyone desire in relation to the law (2006b:90). He suggests that transgressing the law collectively is what holds together a group when for example holding racist prejudices which are forbidden by the written law (ibid.:369). I, however, take this logic to mean that the concept law-transgression theorise how a problem appearing to be opposite or external to something can be internal.
This allows the study to look at the relationship between what each explanation presents as the good society and the obstacle to this as interdependent. In other words, law stands for the impossible wholeness and transgression is the metaphor for the necessary obstacle to that wholeness. In the example above Englishness is that wholeness. What stain this imaginary are the causes of the urban riots, riots that cannot be acknowledged to result from the contemporary socio-political situation of England. What I intend to show with this concept is how causes of the riots are internal to Englishness.
Central in this respect is the Other. As a crucial concept in the social sciences, Žižek however uses the term the Other in many different, and sometimes confusing, ways. Here I limit its use to one meaning. The Other can so to speak be ascribed the role of committing the original sin, taking away an desired unity. The paradox involved is, necessarily, that the Other may very well be what sustains desire.
Summary of Chapters
1 INTRODUCTION: This chapter introduces the context of the 2011 England riots and outlines the study's focus on analyzing the apolitical nature of the common explanations provided for these events.
2 THEORETICAL APPROACH: This chapter establishes the psychoanalytic theoretical framework, drawing on Lacan and Žižek, to explore the interplay between lack, wholeness, and the Other in social discourses.
3 RESEARCH STRATEGY: This section details the methodology used, specifically how data from newspapers and reports were analyzed as discourses, employing the concept of discursive strategies.
4 DISCUSSION: This central chapter applies the theoretical framework to four dominant explanations of the riots—criminality, moral decline, paternal crises, and inequality—to reveal how they obscure political dimensions.
5 CONCLUSION: This chapter synthesizes the main findings, demonstrating that the explanations function by externalizing causes to maintain an apolitical status quo, reinforcing the idea that the riots are an internal consequence of Englishness.
6 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY: This chapter provides a condensed overview of the entire study, summarizing the research objective, the psychoanalytic framework utilized, and the key findings derived from the analysis.
Keywords
Psychoanalysis, England riots, Slavoj Žižek, Jacques Lacan, the Other, Englishness, discourse analysis, criminality, moral decline, dysfunctional families, inequality, discursive strategies, apolitical, social symptoms, lack.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the core focus of this research?
The research focuses on the 2011 England riots and how various public explanations for these events function to present the causes as apolitical, rather than addressing the underlying political tensions.
What are the central themes examined in the study?
The study examines themes of discourse, desire, and the social construction of reality, specifically using psychoanalytic concepts to analyze how societies deal with internal contradictions and failures.
What is the primary research goal?
The goal is to analyze how explanations of the riots function to create an essentially apolitical understanding of the events, thereby obscuring their true political and socio-economic causes.
Which scientific methodology does the author use?
The author employs a qualitative discourse analysis informed by psychoanalytic theory, particularly the works of Slavoj Žižek and Jacques Lacan, to perform a "symptomatic reading" of the material.
What topics are covered in the main section of the book?
The main part analyzes four dominant explanatory discourses: criminality, moral decline, paternal crises, and inequality, showing how each utilizes specific strategies to externalize problems.
Which key concepts characterize this work?
Key concepts include the Oedipus complex, the Real, the Symbolic, the Other, enjoyment (jouissance), disavowal, and the concept of an empty signifier.
How does the author define the role of "Englishness" in the riots?
The author theorizes "Englishness" as an empty signifier or an "abstract universal" that different explanations attempt to make whole by excluding or externalizing the rioters as a problematic obstacle.
Why does the author argue that the riots cannot be seen as purely "mindless violence"?
The author argues that labeling the riots as mindless or purely criminal is a discursive strategy used to disavow systemic problems, effectively preventing a deeper political analysis of the causes.
- Citar trabajo
- Benny Ekvall (Autor), 2013, Re-reading the England Riots, Múnich, GRIN Verlag, https://www.grin.com/document/271159
