Discourses of community and conflict: The organization of social categories in accounts of a ‘riot’
- 1 March 1987
- journal article
- research article
- Published by Wiley in British Journal of Social Psychology
- Vol. 26 (1) , 25-40
- https://doi.org/10.1111/j.2044-8309.1987.tb00758.x
Abstract
This paper illustrates a novel approach to social psychological phenomena, namely the systematic analysis of participants' discourse. Specifically it examines the production of social categories and their organization in discourse through a detailed analysis of the use of the category ‘community’ and the notion of ‘community relations’ in accounts of the ‘St Paul's riot’ of 1980. In the first stage of analysis, the linguistic repertoire making up the category community is outlined, concentrating on variations in accounts of (a) the existence of community over time, (b) its racial composition, (c) the role of metaphors such as harmony and growth. The second stage of analysis shows the way this repertoire is deployed in the achievement of highly contrasting versions of events, concentrating on depictions of the role of the police and the way appropriate responses are specified.This publication has 3 references indexed in Scilit:
- Some problems underlying the theory of social representationsBritish Journal of Social Psychology, 1985
- Psychological Theory as Intergroup Perspective: A Comparative Analysis of “Scientific” and “Lay” Accounts of Crowd EventsHuman Relations, 1985
- The St. Pauls' riot: An explanation of the limits of crowd action in terms of a social identity modelEuropean Journal of Social Psychology, 1984