Youth in history, youth making history: Challenging dominant historical narratives for alternative futures

Abstract

During the recent riots in London and other English cities, o!cial society instinctively labelled the youth involved in this urban rebellion as anti-social gang members, immediately invoking a discourse of criminality to describe the character of the youth and to explain the causes of the riots. "e media
reinforced this approach by continuously publishing images of hooded youths looting and burning shops, even though they represented a minority of the
protesters. Also resurrected was the local upper class English refrain that this sort of behaviour was to be expected from those they have historically
labelled as Yobs and CHAVs (Council House and Violent). However, the most common description attached to the rebellious youth has been of a feral
underclass, which has also developed into the default explanatory framework.