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Crime-Custom.Compressed.Pdf Custom Becomes Crime Crime Becomes Custom Trevor George William Bark PhD February 2006 Custom Becomes Crime - Crime Becomes Custom A theses submitted to Middlesex University in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy Trevor George William Bark School of Health and Social Sciences Middlesex University February 2006 I Abstract This thesis examines the changing relationship between customary activities of the poor and economic change. The social crime debate is used to illustrate the historical importance of informal economic activity, both as a survival strategy and as a means of protest. Key issues of the experience in Britain will be highlighted, and issues such as self-interest will be placed within community toleration. Ironically, social criminal activities are also in the wider interests of the class of people from which social criminals themselves originate. The change from Feudalism and the origin of capitalism (particularly industrial capitalism) created the working class. The peasantry were increasingly displaced from the land, and habits suitable for work paid in cash were inculcated and forced upon people. Customary agricultural practices were gradually whittled away, but the working class changed these into perquisites and new customary work-based appropriation. Protest became located within the official structures of the labour movement, and increasingly orientated around the wage form. The post World War II economic boom encouraged standardisation and stabilisation of products, and within society itself. The onset of economic crises, beginning in the late 1960s, had increasingly global effects, and involved new markets encouraged by European integration. This changed the nature of (un)employment relations, the composition of the working class, consumption demands and possibilities, as well as creating a large and growing informal economy. This new casual and opportunistic, official/unofficial labour market, has meant a resurgence of social crime as a normal feature of survival. Shoplifting, tobacco and alcohol smuggling will be theoretically and practically examined; social crime content assessed; and protest capacity explored. Informant narratives highlight these key features of our time. The thesis further argues that crime has returned as a central aspect of culture. 1 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS This thesis is dedicated to the memories and insights of the late Alice Twigg and Eve Bark. I thank my supervisors, Professor John Lea and Professor Vincenzo Ruggiero, for all their support, guidance, and patience whilst this thesis has been produced. I thank Dr. Tony Goodman for such help too. My aim is to describe the dynamic nature and experience of smuggling and shoplifting. My anonymous informants took huge risks by being very open and honest with me. They were prepared to offer insights and views that were essential for the production of this thesis. I owe them my heartfelt thanks. My family encouraged me, and were my fiercest and politest critics as well as being a source of support. I could not have completed this thesis without them. Clare, Tom and Jasmine are simply the best, Doreen and Uncle Tom too. A legion of fellow travellers helped in numerous ways too, in no particular order, and apologies to those excluded by error; Wendy, Lee W, Laura, Keith, Rosemary, Ben, Patrick, Elise, Carl, Susan, Andy, Melissa, Dan, Lee N, Alessio, Sara, Paul R. Kier, Angela, Lee H, Martin, Kathy, Jock, Joe, Jo, Sandra, Ian, Dave, Jane, John, Rhona, Chris, Mick, Mykal, Mark, Susan, Jon, Peter, Phil a, Phil b, Phil c, Margaret, Roger, Paul S. Lynn, Brendan, Carol, Mark M. Gareth, Alan, Bill, Herbie, Mark, Clinton, Duke, Sue, Debbie, Jim, Jacqui, Thor, Mike, Cynthia, Chris, Malcolm, and Leila. Middlesex University library staff have been essential to this work, and staff at the British library; Staff at Durham University library, Crook public library, Hackney public library, Institute of Race Relations, Calais University, and Sunderland public library have helped too. Thanks to you all. 2 Table of Contents 1 Abstract of thesis Acknowledgements 2 Introduction 7 The Specific Tasks involved in the research 10 10 The Specific aims of the study The Investigation 11 The General Theoretical Approach 11 Initial Hypotheses and Questions Employed in the research 14 In E.P. Thompson's Tradition 16 The Imposition of Wage Labour 17 Taxation and Revenue 25 Criminality 26 A Pre-CapitalistResidue 29 Resume 29 31 The End of the Beginning Chapter One 32 Research Scope and Grounding 32 Economy and Power Above 32 Economy and Resistance from Below 36 Towards Stabilisation 39 Stable Working Class Communities Post World War II 45 New Deal Bum Deal No Deal 51 55 Back to the Future - Globalisation Society of the Spectacle 58 Insecurity 59 Outsourcing 61 EconomicChange 65 Growth of the Informal Economy 69 Networks of Free Traders 73 The DamnedDemand Consumption? 74 3 The New Enclosures- Capitalist Disciplinary Measures and Resistance 78 Recommence 87 Chapter Two 89 The Debate on Social Crime 89 Introduction 89 Dynamics 92 The Beautiful Aesthetics of Ugly Violence 96 Poachers Unknown 98 Testing the limits of the law 101 Beyond the limits of the law 102 Commoners can be Kings for the day 103 The Basis of Life during the Transition from Custom to Crime 104 Defending Tradition I- Restoring the Past: Grain and Bread Riots 106 TotalisingClass Consciousness 107 110 DefendingTradition II - The Struggleagainst Enclosures The Commons 111 Nutters 120 Getting IndeterminateProperty by Hook or By Crook 122 We Are All Vagabonds 126 126 The Victory of Capital and the Decline of Incomes in Kind The Normalisationof Crime 132 Social Crime Today 132 Critique? 139 Social Criminals and Protest within the working classes 143 Robbin' Each other or Robin Hood? 145 Chapter Three Bootlegging in the 21st Century 148 The Extent and Causes of Smuggling 150 Ambiguous Legality and Indeterminate Property 155 Neither Legal nor Illegal: Depends Where you Are 156 The Battle over 'Duty Free' 157 The Impact of the Abolition of Duty Free 157 Lax Regulatory Regime, Low Penalties 158 4 The Visible Participants 159 Amateurs 160 Intermediaries 162 Professionals 163 The Invisible Participants 166 The Tobacco Multinationals 167 Companies Acting Entirely Legally 167 Collusion of Suppliers - Business Facilitation of Crime 168 Supply of Opportunities is Unique in the area 168 The Response of the State 168 Further Developments in Smuggling 170 Similarities and Differences between Classical smuggling and 173 Late Modern Smuggling Everybody's Doing Something They Shouldn't 174 Chapter Four 176 The Globalised Shoplifter 176 Introduction 176 177 The Development of Modern Shoplifting - The Immense Collection of Commodities Causes of Shopliftings' Recent Growth 178 Heroin Chic Women Steal the Brand? 178 New Markets 180 for Del Boy -'Only Fools and HorsesWork' in HookeyStreet The Organisationof Shoplifting 181 What Goods are Lifted? 182 'it Burns, Like a Ring of Fire' 182 Who is Involved? 183 The Visible Participants 187 Amateurs 188 Intermediaries 189 Professionals 191 The Invisible Participants 193 Clothing Multinationals (Dumping) 193 Ambiguous Legality and Indeterminate Property (Brands) 194 How are the goods Distributed? The Bazaar Economy 196 5 Tolerated by the Community 199 A Form of Resistance 199 Everyday Things Everybody Needs 201 Conclusion: Counterfeit the Shoplifted 203 'We Want the World and We Want it Now' 206 Chapter Five 208 The Beginning of the End - The Research Portrayed 208 The Informants: Gender, Ethnicity, Experience and their General Views on 209 Shoplifting Emerging Themes from the Shoplifting Results and Interviews 214 Overview 215 Central research Questions 215 Shoplifting results 218 The Informants:Gender, Ethnicity, Experience and their GeneralViews on 220 Smuggling SmugglingResults 221 Themes from the Smuggling Results and Interviews 223 Overview 224 Conclusion 226 Cultural Resistance 228 The Bazaar and the Freetrader 231 The Interpenetrations of Legality and Illegality 232 Crime as Work 233 The Sociology of the Bazaar and its' Traders 235 Finale 236 Bibliography 238 Appendix A Central Research Questions 283 Appendix B The Totality of Free Trading - What is Free Trading? 284 Appendix C Methodology 297 Appendix D Destruction of Road Taxing Meter photograph 326 Appendix E Attitude Test 327 6 Introduction Background to this Thesis This thesis examines the changing opportunities, meaning and experience of alcohol and tobacco smuggling and shoplifting historically, and into the current period (1998-2004). It intends to contribute to knowledge; evidence and theory of practices and ideas of social crime resistance. In particular this includes; new shoplifting theory, fresh descriptions of the smuggling industry and theory, and a development of E.P. Thompson's theories in a neo-Thompsonian perspective. Overall, this framework uses social crime theory (SCT), which is presented afresh and developed in significant ways, SCT has its commonsense origins in the Robin Hood legend and knowledge of Robin is widespread. Partly due to the efforts of sociologists, but more likely because of the nature of society and it is Eric Hobsbawm (2001) who noted this presence throughout the world. The earliest description of social crime, and still relevant, is; A conscious, almost a political, challenge to the prevailing social and political order and its values... 'Social criminality'.., occurs when there is a conflict of laws e. g. between an official and an unofficial system, or when acts of law-breaking have a distinct element of social protest in them, or when they are closely linked with the development of social and political unrest (Hobsbawm et at, 1972, Bulletin 25,5). In theoretical terms this was identified firstly by Hobsbawm, and then significantly refined by E. P. Thompson et al. Smuggling itself has a long history in and around Britain, an island with a seafaring tradition, and Cal Winslow (1975, in Hay et al, 1975) cogently describes and argues the case for smuggling to be regarded as a social crime (also Hill, 1996). Smuggling dates back nearly a thousand years to the King levying the first taxable duties.
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