A sociological analysis in the Durkheimian tradition was employed in the construction of this thesis. Drawing upon the literature and specific cases this thesis explores the construction, deployment and enactment of these concepts in relation to the social unrest stimulated in Britain by the abuse and murder of children, in particular focusing on the anti-pedophile riots that took place in the year 2000. With the growth of material security in the West, the lives of children have become less fragile. However - as Durkheim and Weber showed -the material development of the West has gone hand in hand with a decline in the dominance of traditional religious forms. One consequence of this is a collapse in time-honoured modes of togetherness. However, the impulse towards religiosity does not disappear and following Durkheim what we need analytically to do is identify where the sacred/profane classifications presently operate. One such place is children; they have become classified as sacred and they: a) represent material security: b) provide meaning because they are aimed at the future, so to speak. However, in order for communities of togetherness to form around children they have to be identified as at risk. The risk, amplified by various media, comes from child abusers, especially, child murderers, who thus become the scapegoat around whose sacrifice the community is formed, and therefore the togethernesst hat was formerly established by traditional religion is once again possib"It is thus not lack of cleanliness or health that causes abjection but what disturbs identity, system, order. What does not respect borders, positions, rules. The inbetween, the ambiguous, the composite. The traitor, the liar, the criminal with good conscience, the shameless rapist, the killer who claims he is a saviour .... Any crime, because it draws attention to the fragility of the law, is abject, but premeditated crime, cunning murder, hypocritical revenge are even more so because they heighten the display of such fragility. He who denies morality is not abject, there can be grandeur in amorality and even in crime that flaunts its disrespect for the law - rebellious, liberating, and suicidal crime. Abjection on the other hand, is immoral, sinister, scheming and shady: a terror that dissembles, a hated that smiles, a passion that uses the body for barter instead of inflaming it, a debtor who sells you up, a friend who stabs you..... " Kristeva, Julia (Powers of Horror: An Essay on Abjection, [1980] 1982: 4) "People fear sharks and yet it is the coconuts that present the real and present danger" Gully, Tim (Focus on the Child. In Ruch, Post Qualifying Child Care Social Work, 2009: 63) The Bloody
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:bl.uk/oai:ethos.bl.uk:510766 |
| Date | January 2009 |
| Creators | Gully, Tim W. |
| Publisher | University of Portsmouth |
| Source Sets | Ethos UK |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Electronic Thesis or Dissertation |
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