In May 2005 Bluewater Shopping Centre banned the wearing of hooded tops in the centre. Management of the shopping centre said that they had had several complaints from shoppers that they found their presence ‘threatening’. Signs were put up advising shoppers that ‘wearing clothing that obscures the face – hooded tops, baseball caps – will not be allowed’. This was picked up by the national press and within weeks there was a nationwide panic over 'hoodies' that involved not just the press but also politicians, community leaders and in turn the general public. Through research that I conducted at the time, this talk explores the journey of that concern and asks whether or not this concern constituted a moral panic as well as what lessons can be learned from this period about subsequent 'moral panics'.
Views: 6 | Enquiries: 0I am a retired Senior University Lecturer in Sociology and Criminology. During my career I worked at several UK universities, including Leeds Metropolitan University, De Montfort University, the University of Bedfordshire and Anglia Ruskin University. I was Course leader for Sociology at two of those universities and I was also the external examiner for Sociology at the University of Northampton and the University of Ulster.
During my career, I gave lectures and talks at academic conferences for organisations such as the British Sociological Association, the Association of Teachers of Social Science and the Leisure Studies Association at the Universities of Manchester, Greenwich, East Anglia, York, Leeds Metropolitan, Brighton, Chester, Bedfordshire, Roehampton, Luton and Central Lancashire. I have also given talks at 'A' Level Sociology Revision conferences in London and Manchester as well as organising 'A' Level Sociology Revision Conferences at three of the universities I worked at.
After I retired I worked as a tutor at the Workers Educational Association for three years and the Open University for a further three years. I am now involved with the University of the Third Age (U3A) where I am group leader for the online sociology group as well as a being a member of the Bury-St-Edmunds U3A.
Since joining the U3A I have given talks both online and in person with the titles, 'Blacklisted: Corporate Crime and State Conspiracies', 'Hoodies: Folk Devils and a Moral Panic for the New Millenium', 'Making Sense of Popular Culture', 'Mods and Rockers and Moral Panics', 'Poverty: A Sociological Perspective', 'Sociology of Suicide', 'Sociology, Gender Inequality and Feminism', 'What is Science?', 'What is Social Class?' and 'What is Sociology?' These should give you an idea of the range of topics that I could offer talks on that can be pitched at a variety of audiences from 'A' Level at schools and colleges to U3A talks to leisure classes.
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