A People’s History of Riots, Protest and the Law

1. Front Matter

   Pages i-xvii

   PDF

2. Introduction

   • Matt Clement

   Pages 1-19

3. Democracy and Protest in the Ancient World

   • Matt Clement

   Pages 21-47

4. Medieval Riots

   • Matt Clement

   Pages 49-76

5. Artisans and Citizens: Riots from 1500–1700

   • Matt Clement

   Pages 77-98

6. Custom, Law and Class

   • Matt Clement

   Pages 99-133

7. 1968: Protest and the Growth of a Critical Criminology

   • Matt Clement, Vincenzo Scalia

   Pages 135-178

8. The 2010s: A Decade of Riot and Protest

   • Matt Clement

   Pages 179-215

9. Back Matter

   Pages 217-225

   PDF

This book examines how movements from below pose challenges to the status quo. The 2010s have seen an explosion of protest movements, sometimes characterised as riots by governments and the media. But these are not new phenomena, rather reflecting thousands of years of conflict between different social classes. Beginning with struggles for democracy and control of the state in Athens and ancient Rome, this book traces the common threads of resistance through the Middle Ages in Europe and into the modern age. 


As classes change so does the composition of the protestors and the goals of their movements; the one common factor being how groups can mobilise to resist unbearable oppression, thereby developing a crowd consciousness that widens their political horizons and demonstrates the possibility of overthrowing the existing order. To appreciate the roots and motivations of these so-called deviants the author argues that we need to listen to the sound of the crowd. This book will be of interest to researchers of social movements, protests and riots across sociology, history and international relations.

• Social movements
• Political sociology
• Crime and society
• Criminology
• Criminal law
• Social history
• Political Protest
• Ferguson
• Critical Criminology
• Theoretical Criminology
• Capital and Class
• Sociology

• Department of Humanities and Social Sciences, University of Winchester, UK, Winchester, United Kingdom

  Matt Clement

Matt Clement is Senior Lecturer in Criminology at the University of Winchester, UK. He is an active socialist and has previously worked as a teacher, community worker and in youth justice. He has previously researched contemporary riots, knife crime and anti-austerity movements in Britain and Europe.

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