Abstract
In this chapter, we explore the issues of order and disorder and, more specifically, the people on LG who were central to attempts to create and sustain order, as well as manage bouts of disorder when they occurred. We use the findings of existing research on urban disorder to argue that perception was central to residents’ approaches to disorderly behaviour and occurrences. What might appear as indicative of decline or even decay to outsiders may not appear this way to people on LG. Once an act or event had been contextualised according to the estate’s history of crime and disorder, with factors like the identity of protagonists and cross-cultural comparisons also coming into play, explanations could be surprising.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Notes
- 1.
The term ‘face’ was used to describe someone who enjoyed local renown because of physical toughness and/or connections in the underground economy.
- 2.
The term ‘trapping’ refers to the sale of drugs. It relates to another slang term, ‘trap house’, which is applied to buildings or properties in which drugs are prepared and packaged ahead of being sold outside these premises.
- 3.
See Talani (2013) for a detailed account of the role of the City of London in international money laundering.
- 4.
In the 1990s, in an effort to combat street prostitution, drug dealing and less serious instances of anti-social behaviour, Northtown Council had installed a perimeter fence around LG. It was subsequently removed in the early 2000s.
- 5.
Since becoming a trafficking hub for South American drug cartels, the United Nations has described Guinea Bissau as a ‘narco state’ (Loewenstein 2016).
- 6.
Contemporary politics in Kosovo are still dominated by three parties corresponding to factions in the territory’s struggle for independence from Serbia. Two parties, the Alliance for the Future of Kosovo (AAK) and the Democratic Party of Kosovo (PDK), have their roots in the Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA) while the third, the Democratic League of Kosovo (LDK), originated from a movement of non-violent resistance to the rule of Serbian leader Slobodan Milošević in the 1990s.
- 7.
These were public houses incorporated into council estates typically built after 1960. They were intended to serve the residents of an estate, with many developing bad reputations. Few survive in Britain’s major cities today (Whitney 2017).
- 8.
‘Tasty’ is a slang term meaning disorderly and potentially threatening.
- 9.
‘Ralph’ was a shorthand used locally for Ralph Lauren-branded polo shirts.
- 10.
‘Skag’ (an abbreviation of ‘skag-head’) is a slang term used to describe a vagrant or semi-vagrant drug (usually heroin) addict.
- 11.
The Big House referred to a large, 400-capacity hostel for the homeless situated in Northtown Central. Since opening in the early Edwardian era it has provided refuge for many migrants to the area, and particularly Irish labourers.
References
Bauman, Z. (1995). Life in Fragments: Essays in Postmodern Morality. London: Wiley-Blackwell.
Blandy, S., & Hunter, C. (2013). The Right to Buy: Examination of an Exercise in Allocating, Shifting and Re-branding Risks. Critical Social Policy, 33(1), 17–36.
Bondi, L. (1999a). Gender, Class and Gentrification: Enriching the Debate. Environment and Planning D: Society and Space, 17(3), 261–282.
Bondi, L. (1999b). On the Journeys of Gentrifiers: Exploring Gender, Gentrification and Migration. In P. Boyle & K. Halfacree (Eds.), Migration and Gender in the Developed World. London: Routledge.
Brand, R. (2017, March 16). Who Are the Slaves Now? Under the Skin Podcast.
Foster, D. (2015, December 7). Right to Buy: A History of Margaret Thatcher’s Controversial Policy. The Guardian.
Loewenstein, A. (2016, January 7). Guinea-Bissau Struggles to End Its Role in Global Drugs Trade. The Guardian.
Sampson, R. (2009). Disparity and Diversity in the Contemporary City: Social (Dis)order Revisited. British Journal of Sociology, 60(1), 1–31.
Smith, N. (1996). The New Urban Frontier. London: Routledge.
Talani, L. S. (2013). London: The Laundry of Choice? Money Laundering in the City of London. In L. S. Talani, S. Clarkson, & R. P. Pardo (Eds.), Dirty Cities: Towards a Political Economy of the Underground in Global Cities. New York: Springer.
Whitney, K. (2017, July 11). ‘Never Drink in a Flat-Roofed Pub’: How the Old Joke Became a Reality. The Guardian.
Wikström, P. O. (2008). Situational Action Theory. In B. Fisher & S. Labs (Eds.), Encyclopedia of Victimology and Crime Prevention. Thousand Oaks: Sage.
Wilson, J. Q., & Kelling, G. (1982, March). Broken Windows: The Police and Neighborhood Safety. Atlantic, 29–38.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2018 The Author(s)
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Rosbrook-Thompson, J., Armstrong, G. (2018). Custodians of (Dis)order: The Pusher, the Publican and the Matriarch. In: Mixed-Occupancy Housing in London. Palgrave Studies in Urban Anthropology. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-74678-4_4
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-74678-4_4
Published:
Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-319-74677-7
Online ISBN: 978-3-319-74678-4
eBook Packages: Social SciencesSocial Sciences (R0)