Stuart Hall:

• Founding member of Birmingham School of Cultural Studies

  • Influential in studies of media and representation of minority groups

• Examined the 'crisis of hegemony' in the 1970s in the UK in
  'Policing the Crisis'

• Applied Marxist ideas of structural inequality and Interactionist ideas of moral panics to the crisis

Crisis of Hegemony:

• The 1970s saw many challenges to the established order

• High unemployment and economic crises

• Industrial action and activism

• Height of conflict in Northern Ireland

• OPEC Oil Crisis,

• Rise of international terrorism

Moral Panic of Black Criminality:

• From the early 1970s, reports of black men attacking and stealing were reported in media and through parliament, which created a moral panic about black criminality

• These reports were exaggerated and seen as a threat to society alongside other actions such as protesting

• This demonised black men and led to the development of stop and search policies or the 'suss law'

Hall et al (1979) Policing the Crisis:

• Using neo-Marxist explanations, Hall et al examined the reactions of individuals and social institutions to the reporting of mugging

• Hall et al suggested that the wider social origins of crime were rooted in the unequal capitalist system

• Social crisis accompanied this economic crisis - the 'crisis of hegemony' as people began to challenge the dominant norms of the ruling class

• This led to challenges to the dominant norms and values of society and, as such, people demonstrated and used industrial action to try and ensure their needs were met - this led to crime

• The reaction of the police and the government to these crimes was to act by utilising the media to generate a moral panic of black criminality

• With public support, this enabled the government to use force against the 'folk devils' - i.e. black men

• Hall et al found that there was little rise in black criminality in this period

• While Hall et al contended that 'scapegoating' was not an intended practice, they suggest that this became practice as a reaction to criminality

• Police procedures helped to create an environment where individuals would react to being victimised

Evaluations of Hall:

• Links to both new criminology of Taylor, Walton and Young and labelling theories

• Examined both the structural and social action reactions of criminality

• Critics have suggested that they suggest that black crime didn't rise, but that the reactions of police caused crime

• Can only partially explain why minority groups are over-represented in crime statistics