Crime, Disorder and Symbolic Violence: Governing the Urban Periphery

241 Pages·2014·0.993 MB·English

by  Matt Bowden

Crime, Disorder and Symbolic Violence
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Crime, Disorder and
Symbolic Violence
Governing the Urban Periphery
Matt Bowden
LecturerinSociology,DublinInstituteofTechnology,Ireland
©MattBowden2014
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inaccordancewiththeCopyright,DesignsandPatentsAct1988.
Firstpublished2014by
PALGRAVEMACMILLAN
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Bowden,Matt.
Crime,disorderandsymbolicviolence:governingtheurban
periphery/MattBowden.
pages cm
Summary:“Thistimelybookprovidesatheoreticalandempiricalengagementwith
contemporaryunderstandingsofthegovernanceofcrime,safetyandsecurity.
Inthelasttwodecades,criminologicalnarrativeshaveadvancedaseriesof
propositionsonthenatureofthelatemodernrisksociety.Thesenarratives
havebasedtheirobservationsprimarilyupontrendsinthecore,developed
societies.Thisbookpresentsanalternativeperspective,exploringthenuances
ofthesmallerscaleandofferingarichinsightintothehistoricalandspatial
specificsleadingtotheemergenceofsocialcrimepreventionasaformofgoverning.
UsingaBourdieuianframework,Bowdenshowshowconceptssuchascapital,
habitusandsymbolicpowercanprovideananalytictool-kitforacriticallyengaged
publiccriminology.Thisbookarguesthatcrimepreventioncanmobiliseatypeof
moralcurriculumandassuchisasymbolicstruggleforthedomination
ofthesubjectandthedominationofterritory.Revealingacounter-practice
whichhastheabilitytoreinvigoratesocialcitizenship,thisbookwillappeal
toscholarsacrossCriminology,Sociology,CrimePreventionandCommunity
Safety.”—Providedbypublisher.
ISBN978–1–137–33035–2(hardback)
1. Juveniledelinquency—Ireland—Prevention. 2. Crimeprevention—Ireland.
3. Urbanyouth—Ireland. I. Title.
HV9148.A5.B692014
364.409418(cid:2)35—dc23 2014024814
Contents
ListofTables,FiguresandBoxes vi
Preface vii
Acknowledgements ix
ListofAbbreviations xi
Part I Introduction
1 UrbanDisorderandSymbolicViolence:OpeningtheCase 3
2 ABourdieusianPerspective:GoverningTerritoryand
Subjects 12
Part II TheTheoreticalCase:GoverningCrimeand
DisorderintheUrbanPeripheryinIreland,
1991–2008
3 TheDublinUrbanPeriphery1960–2008:APolitical
Economy 37
4 SymbolicPowerandtheCrisisofTerritoriality:Urban
Disorderinthe1990s 67
5 SymbolicPowerinThreePeripheralSettings 103
6 TwoModelsinAction:SymbolicViolenceversus
Ethico-Craft 139
Part III Conclusion
7 Crime,DisorderandSymbolicViolence 179
Notes 204
Bibliography 209
Index 225
v
Tables, Figures and Boxes
Tables
3.1 Populationchangeinselectedurbanperipherallocations
1981–2011 39
4.1 Keyinformantsatnationalandregionallevels 68
5.1 Keyinformantsinthreelocalareas 104
5.2 Thematicsummaryofthreesites 136
6.1 KeyinformantsatFairgreenSouth 143
6.2 ThePlumfordBoys 145
6.3 CurriculumanddialogueinFSGYDP 146
6.4 KeyinformantsatLCH 162
Figures
3.1 Conceptualmapofresearchproblematic 32
4.1 Networkgovernanceandtheperiphery;networkmapfor
Ballynew 98
4.2 Keyactorasbroker,hubandspokemodel 99
5.1 TheEmmetstown(RegionalCity)network 124
5.2 Pinevalenetwork 129
6.1 Fairgreen,transportcorridorsandflowroutes 142
6.2 Photoofmedalspresented 158
6.3 LCH,flowroutesandtransportcorridors 161
6.4 Rick’s‘fishing’networkandconnectionsthrough
networks 171
Boxes
7.1 Keypointsfromtheresearchfindings 181
7.2 Theelementsofacriticalpedagogy 203
vi
Preface
This book documents the emergence of youth crime prevention in
Ireland,butitisamoreambitiousprojectthanthat.Acriticmightask
whyitisnecessarytodevelopawidertheoryaroundwhatisasetoflocal
initiativesinasmallcountryontheedgeofEurope.Thesocial-scientific
answer is that the events, strategies and sets of institutional relation-
ships leading to the setting up of youth crime prevention constitute a
theoreticalcaseofawidercrisis.Itprovidesaresearchfocusthatenables
a discussion of the governance of the subjects of such modalities, and
the settings into which they were implanted. Furthermore, neither the
subjects – working-class young people – nor the settings – the housing
estatesontheurbanperiphery–canbetakenasgiven,butrequiresome
contextualization to locate them in the geo-historical development of
thecity.MuchoftheresearchiscentredonDublin,thecapitalofIreland
and the primary metropolitan centre on the island of Ireland, which
underwent a fundamental transformation in the period beginning in
the1960s.Thistransformationsawindustrialandresidentialexpansion
outwardintothecountrysideandbuilt-uponlands,whichsubsequently
becamethefocusofcorruptioninvestigationsformanyyears.
In this brief paragraph I have mentioned the governance of the sub-
jectandtheexpansionandgovernanceoftheterritory–thistwo-sided
problematic is at the heart of this book. Other scholars have tried to
encapsulate this in various ways. For example, David Harvey (1997)
argued that the city should be understood as a dialectic relationship
between the urban as a physical entity – land use, infrastructure and
buildings – and as a process (everyday life, relationships). The gover-
nance of the city is fundamentally tied to questions of relationships
betweenactorsacrossthespace.Thisrequiresinstitutionalrelationships,
but also informal face-to-face relationships between individuals. Gov-
erning is more than simply the set of institutions that shape policy; it
is a complex of systems, as Foucault (1977) would have put it, for the
governanceofthesoul.
This book begins with an account of a series of dramatic events that
encapsulatetherangeofempiricalandtheoreticalchallengesthatwere
faced by this project. These events took place in 1991 at Ronanstown,
acollectionoflocalauthorityhousingestatesonthewesternperiphery
vii
viii Preface
of Dublin. This starting point expands into a wider case that has been
capturedindifferenttimeslicesspanningmorethanadecade,aswellas
fromarangeofresearchvantagepoints.Ihopethatthisbookisafitting
culminationofthesemanyyearsofwork.
MattBowden
Acknowledgements
Therearemany,manypeoplewhohavehelpedmewiththisendeavour
overthelastnumberofyears,andIamgreatlyappreciativeoftheirtol-
erance and understanding. I would like to thank Palgrave Macmillan
for commissioning the book and for the faith their team placed in the
project. This book has developed in stages: most of the research in its
preparation began in the Department of Sociology at Trinity College
Dublin as early as 1992, and was later developed when I worked as a
researcher at the Children’s Research Centre at Trinity. In these early
stages I had support from Hilary Tovey, Sheila Greene, Barry Cullen,
Paula Mayock, Louise Higgins and Robbie Gilligan. Developing the
project and intensifying the research took place between 2001 and
2008, again at the Department of Sociology, Trinity College Dublin,
where I was very fortunate to work with Professor Robert J. Holton.
Bob’sguidanceandmentoringofthisprojectbroughtdepthandrigour,
which I hope come through in what you read. Bob encouraged me to
be theoretically ambitious and I make no apologies for following his
calling.
Theprojectwas supportedintheperiod2003–2005bya scholarship
from the Third Sector Research Programme, Royal Irish Academy. The
Academy also supported me with a travel bursary that allowed me to
meetotherresearchersathomeandabroad.
The critical development of the project was made possible by the
feedbackIreceivedfromEoinO’SullivanatTrinityCollegeDublinand
Gordon Hughes at Cardiff University. Also, I am grateful for the sup-
port of my colleagues at Dublin Institute of Technology, where I have
worked since 2008. I would especially like to thank Mairead Seymour,
DavidWilliams,JanPettersen,KevinLalor,MaryRogan,SineadFreeman
and Nicola Hughes. There are many others who helped in a variety of
ways, in particular Aogán Mulcahy, Eddie Brennan, Noel Fitzpatrick,
JohnBennett,PatsyBrady,JonathanIlan,Maja-Halilovic-Pastuovic,Jean
Cushen,MichaelDoherty,EwenSpeed,SuzanneHarkins,NiallO’Boyle
andSeanDunne.
The work presented here would not have been possible without the
contributionofthemanypeoplewhoparticipatedintheresearch,and
especially those who gave interviews and their subsequent permission
to revisit their interviews some years after they were gathered. To Rick
ix