ABSTRACT
Prominent figures in the government and the economy were corrupt; the rioters were no worse, and perhaps were even taking their cue from them. The continuation of the riots needs further explanation, since the agencies of social control could have contained this aggression directed against society by doing their traditional work of countering that aggression by harsh punishment. The condemnation of society that leads to holding it responsible for the riots, hence to the inversion of power, is, itself, a product of society. Of course, it is possible that the British police, supposedly marinated in racism, had been so abusive in their treatment of black people, that a revolt, in the form of the riots, was understandable. The chapter suggests that the castration of the British police, and the consequences of that, including their fatal hesitancy in defending England against the riots of the summer of 2011.
