Research Institute for Social Sciences

Morality for the Masses: The Social Significance of Crime and Punishment Discourse in British Broadsides, 1800-1850.

For my PhD research, which has been recently completed, I conducted a detailed discourse analysis of 650 broadsides, all covering the topics of violent crime and public execution, and provided a cultural interpretation as to the form, function and meaning of the social, emotional, and moral narratives contained within this particular genre of populist street literature. This interpretation was based upon the social theories of Emile Durkheim, who recognised the higher utility of crime and punishment as being one of social integration and the preservation of moral boundaries. The central argument of my thesis, therefore, is that broadsides relating to crime and punishment were a form of moral communication for the masses and that they are examples of how the working class once attempted to bolster a sense of stability and community, during the transitional years of the early nineteenth century, by effectively representing both a consolidation and celebration of their core values and beliefs.

• "‘Bloody Murder!’: The Meaning and Morality of Violent Crime in Early Nineteenth Century Broadsides, British Crime Historians Symposium 3, The Open University, Milton Keynes, September 2012

•  Criminal Mentalities and Moralities: Representations of Crime and Punishment in Early 19th Century Broadsides, Print Networks Conference on Street Literature: Cheap Print, Popular Culture and the Book Trade, University of Leicester, Leicester, July 2012

•  ‘A Full and Particular Account’: Representations of State Violence in Early 19th Century Broadsides, SOLON International Conference on Crime, Violence and the Modern State III, Lyon 2 University, Lyon, September 2011

• Trials and Tribulations: Representations of Criminal Justice in Early 19th Century Broadsides, International Symposium on Courtrooms, the Public Sphere & Convicts, Keele University, Keele, September 2010

• Criminal Mentalities – Revisiting the Curiosities of Street Literature, 3rd Annual Conference of the Research Institute for Law, Politics and Justice, Keele University, Keele, November 2009

• Morality for the Masses: A Study of British Broadsides 1800-1850, Annual Conference of the British Society of Criminology, Glasgow Caledonian University, Glasgow, July 2006