RESOURCES: Classic text revisited ... Hooligan Geoffrey Pearson,1983

Much as labelling theory suggested that the problem was not the "kids" but what society did to them, so Hooligan placed in a rich historical and social context contemporary concerns about mugging, football disorder and youth violence and its alleged causes. The latter being the harmful effects of popular entertainment, the inadequacies of single parents and the leniency of the criminal justice response. Its charting of the activities of Teddy Boys, of the original Victorian hooligans, of garrotting gangs and of unruly apprentices showed the remarkable continuities in criminality and the accompanying public discourse over four centuries. The last 10 years have seen plenty more media and political panics: about persistent young offenders, paedophiles, drugs and street crime. Always alongside is nostalgia for the illusory harmony of the past and fear of imminent social ruin.