NCJ Number
61041
Date Published
1978
Length
22 pages
Annotation
PRINT MEDIA COVERAGE OF LOOTING DURING NEW YORK CITY'S 1977 ELECTRICAL BLACKOUT IS EXAMINED TO ILLUSTRATE HOW THE MASS MEDIA PRESENT DEVIANT BEHAVIOR AND DESCRIBE VICTIMS AND OFFENDERS.
Abstract
DURING THE NIGHT NEW YORK BLACKOUT, 2,000 STORES IN BLACK AND HISPANIC GHETTOS WERE ROBBED. AS A RESULT, OVER 3,000 PEOPLE, MOSTLY MALE, BLACK, OR HISPANIC, AND UNDER THE AGE OF 30, WERE ARRESTED. ALL 45 RESULTING ARTICLES PUBLISHED IN NATIONALLY DISTRIBUTED MAGAZINES, NEWSPAPERS, AND COLUMNS WERE ANALYZED AND COMPARED WITH FINDINGS IN RECENT SOCIAL SCIENCE LITERATURE AS WELL AS WITH PUBLIC OPINION POLLS ON THE LOOTING. RESULTS INDICATED THAT MOST COMMENTATORS IDENTIFIED WITH THE VICTIMS AND DID NOT ATTEMPT TO UNDERSTAND THE LOOTERS' VIEWPOINTS ON THE LOOTING'S RELATIONSHIP TO PREVIOUS SIMILAR URBAN UPRISINGS. MOST AUTHORS DIFFERED IN BOTH RACE AND CLASS FROM THE LOOTERS, BUT THEIR ARTICLES DID NOT TRY TO BRIDGE THESE GAPS. LOOTERS' EXPRESSED MOTIVES WERE DISMISSED AS RATIONALIZATIONS, WHILE GHETTO MERCHANTS' WELL KNOWN DEVIANT AND UNFAIR BUSINESS PRACTICES WERE IGNORED. LOOTERS WERE USUALLY PORTRAYED AS MOBS AND IN ANIMALISTIC TERMS. IN CONTRAST, THE CONSENSUS OF RECENT SOCIAL SCIENTISTS' WORK IS THAT URBAN UPRISINGS REPRESENT A RETALIATION BY YOUNG GHETTO MEN AGAINST MERCHANTS WHO ANTAGONIZE THEM IN THEIR ROLES AS CONSUMERS AND WORKERS, AND THAT UPRISINGS ARE THE RESULT OF POVERTY, UNEMPLOYMENT, AND DISCRIMINATION. FOLLOWING THE 1977 UPRISING, HOWEVER, BOTH LIBERAL AND CONSERVATIVE COMMENTATORS DENIGRATED THE LOOTERS, EXONERATED THE VICTIMIZED MERCHANTS, EMPHASIZED OFFENDERS' MORAL OR PERSONAL FLAWS, AND OVERLOOKED THE SOCIAL, POLITICAL, AND ECONOMIC FORCES SAID BY THE DEVIANTS TO BOTH OPPRESS AND EXPLOIT THEM. TABLES, A NOTE, AND A BIBLIOGRAPHY ARE INCLUDED. (CFW)