The Riots in London and how they might be affected by the class system

What is the difference between looting and rioting?
o When people are rioting they are breaking things and causing disorder violently, like breaking into shops and crushing cars etc. Looting is common under riots because it makes it easier. Looting is stealing stuff and doesn’t involve violent actions.

Define the underlined (blue) words and phrases. Also note down other words you find difficult, and find out what they mean.
o Social exclusion: to be “excluded” from society (sosial eksklusjon)
o Disregard social norms: to not obey the social norms (å ikke følge normene i samfunnet)
o High unemployment: A high number of unemployed people (høy arbeidsledigehet)
o Criminologist: expert on crime and criminal behavior (kriminolog)
o Opportunism: taking advantage of opportunities and not caring about the consequences it may have on others
o Lack of intervention: when little or nothing is done to help change something. (Mangel på tiltak)
o Consumerism: Our consuming of products and services (forbruk)
o Catalyst of unrest: a trigger of something, a reason for something happening faster

• Could this happen in Trondheim? In Oslo? Why/why not?
• What can this say about the social conditions in England? How may this be connected to the traditional class system?

I don’t think it is likely that this will happen in Oslo or Trondheim, but it is possible in a smaller scale. In London many of the participating people were unemployed and didn’t have much to loose. That is not the current situation in Norway, we don’t have that big economical differences between people as London has. We also have many systems made to help people in unfortunate situations.

In London many of the unemployed live in the same areas and maybe that was a contributing factor to trigging the riots. When there are a lot of people in same situation living close to each other I think that the urge to do something drastic comes faster. To try to make the situation change is a natural desire and with many people wanting the same thing is might be easier to do something as drastic as the riots.


The social conditions in England are highly influenced by the traditional class system, as the class system still exists. It is hard to get out of the social class you are in and it’s easy to blame the ones “above” you. Even if you marry into the upper class it takes about three generations to be fully accepted, according to a radio-program on BBC. The riots in London are most likely a reaction to the class system. Class distinction is not a good thing and it leads to differences and injustice. Many of the young people feel like someone is responsible for doing something about the unfairness, and when nothing is done they try to get attention.