Much of the analysis of the riots has focussed on consumerism and its discontents but the corollary of that argument hasn’t surfaced: the loss of working class jobs. When modern consumerism began in the 1950s with “You’ve never had it so good” and keeping up with the Joneses, the great novelty was that working people now had significant purchasing power. There was a balance: the great majority of people were involved in making things and they could now buy some of them. People knew what things were worth because they knew what making them entailed. Once we became almost entirely consumers and credit expanded elastically, this balance was lost. So the stuff in the shops is just bling, cargo and these people have no jobs or a credit card . . .
The worst part, though, is not looting but the personal viciousness. Family breakdown is probably the main cause of this callous dehumanization but the loss of the camaraderie of the workplace is surely significant as well?
The worst part, though, is not looting but the personal viciousness. Family breakdown is probably the main cause of this callous dehumanization but the loss of the camaraderie of the workplace is surely significant as well?
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