A Sociological Paper Looking at Gangs in the U.K. & How the Media Amplifies Situation with Negative Effects

"Wild ones 'beat up' Margate"¹ read the front page of the Daily Mirror on May the 18^th of May, 1964. The newspaper was reporting on the apparent 'riots' that took place on the beaches involving two youth groups, the 'Mods' and the 'Rockers'. Using words like 'blood', 'shouting' and 'black eye' to categorize the story, the Daily Mirror included a picture of two girls fighting (appendix 1) in the street to convey their message of terror. However, as historians and scholars alike discussed, was it really a riot? The media placed such importance on the Mods and Rockers phenomena that they are still highly recognisable today and are as linkable to the 60's in iconography as Carnaby Street, the Great Train Robbery and the Beatles.

By utilising risk behaviour theories - more specifically Social Amplification theory - this paper will attempt to analyse risk behaviours from both a psychological and sociological perspective.

In order to discuss this area, perhaps it would be beneficial to first outline what risk actually is. Collins English Dictionary offers multiple explanations regarding the definition of risk though in relation to this paper, one definition appears to be particularly relevant, stating that risk is:

"A person or thing considered as a potential hazard.²"

In the case of this paper, that potential hazard was the two youth groups in question, however, a question must be raised at this point; was the risk really as large as the media had reported?

Psychologists discuss risk in terms of the individual and the motivations for risk behaviour. Classically, psychoanalytic theory by the likes of Freud detailed that individuals who would take considerable risks were mentally unstable and indeed suffered from a 'diseased mind'³ and concluded that risk takers where acting without reason. However, modern psychology does not see a risk taker in this manner. Depending on the level of risk involved in a particular behaviour, it would be unfair to discuss those who take part in extreme sports as possessing a diseased mind, in fact recent studies have showed that taking part in activities like parachuting has increased some individuals self esteem and that some view risk takers as being more attractive⁴.

Contempory research into risk behaviours suggests the point that different people will have different personality traits and these traits will affect how they deal with risk behaviours. Extraverts and introverts will react differently to the same situation however the individual's personality will affect their behaviour. There is also a large amount of research that indicates risk takers are higher in the narrow 'sensation seeking' trait theorised by Martin Zucherman⁵. On a physiological level, the individual's perception of risk sets of a range of changes that are experienced as high arousal and anxiety, this assists in explaining why the individual also chooses to avoid taking risks.

In the case of the Mods and Rockers, there were obvious risks that participating members of the groups had to take part in. If the newspapers of the time are to be believed, the most evident risk behaviour the youths would participate in was violence. The apparently massive 'riots' that would take place would require the youths to disregard their own personal safety and utilise some risk assessment framework.

A more sociological account of risk can be used to a deeper degree with the Mods and the Rockers. The Social Amplification of Risk framework by Kasperson, Kasperson and Renn⁶ (1988) is an ideal way of analysing the events of 1964 as it was designed to incorporate findings from various areas of research and thus, could help account for almost any situation. The SAR framework also highlights the various social processes underlying risk perception and response, in particular how some events and hazards can become magnified and become a more significant concern, this is known as risk amplification. This framework will assist in exploring how the events of 1964 could become so distorted, the public felt fearful of this youth group. Subsequently, it also accounts for those things in society that are deemed of more importance, however certain forces can trivialise the meaning so as to underplay its importance, and this is known as risk attenuation. As Luhmann (1979) stated:

"Risk events which might include actual or hypothesised accidents or incidents (or even new reports on existing risks) will be largely irrelevant or localised in their impact unless human beings observe and communicate them to others"⁷.

It is evident that it is important to have forces like the media convey messages so as to protect those who are un-aware of their importance; however, this can work in a negative manner also. The risk assessment process therefore, can be seen as an attempt to predict possible future occurrences that relate to an original event. Subsequently, the past knowledge of the situation will assist the individual or society in how to manage a possible reoccurrence. The 'interpretation of risk' is therefore acquired through experience. Kasperson et al state:

"Within this framework, risk experience can be properly assessed only through the interaction among the physical harms attached to a risk event and the social and cultural processes that shape interpretations of that event, second and tertiary consequences that emerge and the actions taken by managers and publics."⁸

Kasperson et al refer to what they call "amplification stations"⁹, this is the notion that information has to travel to different platforms before it becomes public knowledge, each of these platforms - in relation to the Mods and the Rockers, the different media forms - then have the power to exaggerate the data (risk amplification) or underplay its importance (risk attenuation). Kasperson also details a category as risk intensification processes, this is the notion that some events will produce 'ripples' of further consequences that can extend far beyond the original situation. This can also be applied to Mods and the Rockers in that they are still widely recognised today, not only through their clothes, their music and their culture, but violence is still synonymous with them. When a new youth movement emerges, they are often compared to Mods and Rockers which brands that group of youths as thugs.

Stanley Cohen's book, Folk Devil's and Moral Panics (2002)¹⁰ looks closely at the emergence of these two youth groups and discusses the importance of the media in declaring these individuals, 'Folk Devils'. Cohen studied the reaction to the Mods and the Rockers in three ways, first, he studied what he terms the 'on the spot' reaction by informally interviewing those present and by utilising his own observations. Second, Cohen studied the reaction of the system of social control, by that he was referring to the relevant interviews and published material and finally, he studied the transmission and diffusion of the events in the mass media¹¹. Cohen states:

"One of the most recurrent types of moral panic in Britain since the war has been associated with the emergence of various forms of youth culture...whose behaviour is delinquent or deviant.¹²"

The consequence of this statement is that as generation's progress and new groups of youth emerge, older generations become alienated from the youth through their apparent behaviour. The reportage of the groups behaviour usually has to be conveyed through the media (or amplification station) and the way in which these social forces convey the 'facts' will contribute to how society views the members of the group. Cohen progresses to discuss how the two youth groups were typified by distinguished social types. These social types stand as an example to society defining what behaviour is right and which is wrong. The typified group were symbolised in the media through the use of scandalous headlines and photographs which contributed to the creation of them as 'folk devils' (see appendix 2). As Cohen states:

"The media have long operated as agents of moral indignation in their own right...their very reporting of certain 'facts' can be sufficient to generate concern, anxiety, indignation or panic"¹³.

As has been stated in the relevant texts, the media spends a great deal of time reporting the different forms of deviance in our society and as Cohen quotes Erikson:

"A considerable portion of what we call "news" is devoted to reports about deviant behaviour and its consequence"¹⁴.

From this we can infer that the media has a great deal of control over the news we receive and how they convey the story to us. In the case of the Mods and Rockers, the media served as a platform of amplification, and as Cohen states, an assistant editor of the Daily Mirror newspaper admitted that the events of 1964 had been 'over reported'¹⁵. Cohen proceeds to develop how the press over-reported the events and thus, contributed to the perceived risk of this apparently highly dangerous youth movement.

In the section detailing the exaggeration and distortion of the Mods and Rockers history, Cohen sets about looking at how the press reported the events and how the embellishment of the facts contributed to the perceived risk of the Mods and Rockers phenomena. Cohen highlights that the press misreported many parts of the story and indicates that there was not a great deal else taking place in the newspapers at that point in time. This causes an over reaction to many facts including how many took part, the number of individuals involved in violent encounters and the overall damage caused¹⁶. The use of words like 'battle', 'siege' and 'riots' only contributes to the public fears though as official statistics show, these words where unjustly used¹⁷. The press had also reported that the beaches had been disserted because of the marauding teenagers however on closer inspection, it could be seen that the beaches were deserted due to a run of bad weather¹⁸.

The mass media had so misrepresented the events of spring 1964 that Cohen could find ten clear areas where the press had misreported information. Amongst these categories, Cohen first discussed the use of the word 'gangs'¹⁹. The word gang suggests an organised group of individuals all with a collective cause and mission statement though Cohen indicates there wasn't any gangs as such, instead there was loose groupings of individuals. The press also detailed a clean distinction between the two groups - the Mods and the Rockers - though on closer inspection, it appears that initially at least, the groups where made up by regional variations rather than style and music choice. Cohen also discusses the use of the phrase, 'deliberate intent'²⁰. This suggests that every youth present at that point in time was there strictly to take part in the clashes however later reports indicated that a great deal of people present went simply to observe, rather than participate. A final example Cohen highlights is the misuse of Violence and Vandalism. The press exaggerated greatly the amount of damage to the area and the episodes of violent conduct, as Cohen points out, there was actually very little examples of this compared to the apparent mass of 'blood and violence'²¹ reported in the press.

It can be seen that the power the media has as an 'amplification station' can greatly effect not only the information we receive and in what form we receive it, but the media can also affect the developing society. Still recognizable today, the Mods and the Rockers served to epitomise the emergence of a youth culture doomed to be viewed as 'folk devils' through media representation. The combination of the fact that there was little else news at that point to report and the use of language regarding the events of 1964 served to alienate an entire group of individuals from society. The press representation of the Mods and Rockers meant that the public at large feared them because of their violent conduct and tendencies for vandalism. However, this was an unfair representation. It can easily be imagined that anyone who looked like either of the groups would be shunned by the average member of the public for fears of a volatile outburst, though had the media reported this apparent 'risk' in a different manner, both individuals may have felt more comfortable.

Kasperson et al's theory of Social Amplification of Risk serves as an excellent framework for explaining the phenomena of the perceived risk of this youth movement. It also ties in excellently with Luhmann's point that unless human beings convey the message of the events, the incidents can remain relatively localised and thus the interpretation of the risk would be altered. Had the media not had such a powerful grip over what the public views, would things have been different? Would the Mods and the Rockers be so iconoclastic? Would films like 'Quadraphenia' have been made and finally, would life of been different for the two youth groups? One thing remains to be said, if the media had been focussed on a more pressing news story at the time, the apparent clashes would not have generated so much fear and thus, the interpretation of the perceived risk would not have been so great.

1
The Daily Mirror, Monday, May 18^th
1964.

2
Collins English Dictionary, Harper Collins, UK.
1999

3
www.risktaking.co.uk

4
ibid

5
Zucherman, M. Development of
Sensation-Seeking Scale. Journal of Consulting and Clinical
Psychology. 28: 477-482. 1964

6
Kasperson, Kasperson and Renn. The Social
Amplification of Risk. Cambridge University Press, UK. 2003.
Page 13.

7
Luhmann, N. Trust and Power. Chichester,
Wiley. 1979

8
Kasperson, Kasperson and Renn. The Social
Amplification of Risk. Camgridge University Press, UK. 2003.
Page 19.

9
ibid

10
Cohen, S. Folk Devils and Moral Panics.
Routledge, UK. 2002.

11
Ibid. P. 24

12
Ibid. P. 9

13
Ibid. P.16

14
Ibid. P.17

15
Ibid. P.31

16
Ibid. P.31

17
Ibid. P.32

18
Ibid. P.31

19
Ibid. P.34

20
Ibid. P.36

21
Ibid. P.36