Professor Clifford Stott
- Title
- Professor of Social Psychology
- Location
- Dorothy Hodgkin Building : DH1.84
- Phone
- +44(0)1782 734529
- c.stott@keele.ac.uk
Biography
I joined the School as Professor of Social Psychology in March 2016 from a position as Principal Research Fellow in Security and Justice in the School of Law at the University of Leeds. I have an interdisciplinary focus and specialize in understanding the nature and role of social identity processes and intergroup relationships in the psychology and dynamics of crowd behaviour, ‘riots’, ‘hooliganism’ and ‘public order’ policing. I lead the Social and Developmental Research Group within the School and am the founder and Co-Director of the Keele Policing Academic Collaboration, one of Keele University’s key strategic Research Centres.
I graduated with a B.Sc. (Hons) Psychology from Plymouth Polytechnic and obtained a PhD on the ‘Intergroup Dynamics of Crowd Behaviour’ from the University of Exeter under the supervision of Professor Stephen Reicher. I subsequently held Lectureships and Senior Lectureships at the Universities of Bath, Abertay Dundee and Liverpool. I have also held Visiting Professorships at Aarhus University in Demark, at the Leeds University Business School along with Visiting Fellowships and Scholarships at the Australian National University, the University of Exeter and Flinders University in Adelaide.
I am currently an Associate Editor for the British Journal of Social Psychology and sit on the Advisory Board of the journal Policing and Society. I have previously been a Consultant Editor for the British and the European Journals of Social Psychology and sat on the Editorial Board of Criminology and Criminal Justice. I have been a guest Editor of a special edition of Contemporary Social Science and Co-Editor of a special issue of Policing: A Journal of Policy and Practice on the policing of crowds.
I have been involved both as principle and co-investigator in research and consultancy projects worth in excess of £4 million provided by a wide range of organisations including the ESRC, Leverhulme Trust, the European Commission, UK Home Office as well as charitable foundations and a number of policing and other governmental organisations. I am currently involved in a collaborative ESRC funded project researching the social psychological dynamics of the spread of collective violence during the 2011 English ‘riots’. I am also the Scientific Director of ENABLE, an 8 million SEK project constructing an evidence based approach to the policing of football crowds in Sweden funded by the Galo Foundation.
My research and its associated theory has achieved high-level external impact at a national and international level. My work has informed policy, guidance and practice in the management of crowds for a range of government and police organisations in the U.K. including the Home Office, the Association of Chief Police Officers, the College of Policing, Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of the Constabulary as well as among others the Metropolitan Police Service, Staffordshire, Sussex and West Yorkshire Police. My research has also achieved high-level international impact affecting policy and guidance on the policing of crowds of the European Council, the European Union as well as a range of police forces globally including Portugal, Sweden, Denmark and Australia. In 2004 I was involved in the developing of the policing approach for the 2004 UEFA European Championships in Portugal and between 2009 and 2011 I played a central role in designing and delivering the Pan European Football Police Training Project funded by the European Commission in partnership with UEFA.
In 2014 I was awarded the Economic and Social Research Council’s ‘Celebrating Impact’ First Prize and in 2015 my work on policing crowds was acknowledged by the ESRC as one of its ‘Top 50’ achievements in its 50-year history. In 2015 I also won the University of Leeds Vice Chancellor’s Impact Award for the Social Sciences.
Research and scholarship
I specialise in research on crowds, ‘riots’, ‘hooliganism’ and ‘public order’ policing underpinned by theoretical perspectives on social identity, intergroup relations and procedural justice. My early research career focused on the development of theoretical understanding of role of intergroup group dynamics and social identity processes in collective violence in collaboration with Professor Stephen Reicher (St Andrews University) and Dr John Drury (University of Sussex). My early research played a central role in developing the Elaborated Social Identity Model of crowd behaviour (ESIM). The ESIM is now widely acknowledged as the leading social psychological theory of crowd behaviour, particularly as this relates to theoretical conceptualisation of the underlying dynamics of the inititation and escalation of ‘rioting’.
This theoretical insight highlights the importance of police strategy and tactics in the initiation and escalation of ‘disorder’ during political protest and football crowd events. As a consequence, my career focus has therefore concentrated on extending these important theoretical developments toward an applied and impact agenda, primarily through integrating ESIM based analyses of rioting into professional policy and practice among police forces globally. As a consequence, I have developed a strong interest in inter-disciplinary research on security and have also established an international profile in Criminology and policing studies. I have become widely regarded as a world leading academic expert on the psychology and policing of ‘public order’ during crowd events and have a substantial record of high quality publications at a national and international level.
Teaching
I am Course Director for the M.Sc. Community and Applied Psychology and module coordinator for the third year module PSY-30124 ‘Groups, Crowds and Conflict: Theoretical and Applied Perspectives’. I supervise a number of undergraduate projects and MSc dissertations in the general areas of social psychology and criminology.
Further information
- Economic and Social Research Council’s ‘Celebrating Impact’ First Prize 2014.
- ESRC ‘Top 50’ achievements in its 50-year history.
- University of Leeds Vice Chancellor’s Impact Award for the Social Sciences 2015.
Selected Journal Articles
- Stott, C., Drury, J. & Reicher, S (2016) On the Role of a Social Identity Analysis in Articulating Structure and Collective Action: The 2011 Riots in Tottenham and Hackney. British Journal of Criminology. DOI: 10.1093/bjc/azw036
- Stott, C & Drury, J. (2017) Contemporary understanding of riots: Classical crowd psychology, ideology and the social identity approach. Public Understanding of Science. Vol 26(1) 2-14
- Stott, C, West, O & Radburn, M. (2016) Policing football ‘risk’? A participant action research case study of a liaison based approach to ‘public order’. Policing and Society.
- Drury, J, Novelli, D and Stott, C (2015) Managing to avert disaster: explaining collective resilience at an outdoor music event. European Journal of Social Psychology. DOI: 10.1002/ejsp.2108
- Stott, C; Scothern, M and Gorringe, H. (2013). ‘Advances in liaison based public order policing in England: Human Rights and negotiating the management of protest?’ Policing. 7(2): pp212-226
- Stott C; Hoggett J and Pearson G (2012) 'Keeping the Peace': Social Identity, Procedural Justice and the Policing of Football Crowds. British Journal of Criminology. 52(2): 381-399
- Stott, C.J., Adang, O.M., Livingstone, A., & Schreiber, M. (2008) Tackling Football Hooliganism: A Quantitative Study of Public Order, Policing and Crowd Psychology. Psychology Public Policy and Law. Vol. 14, No. 2, 115–14
- Stott, C.J., Adang, O.M., Livingstone, A., & Schreiber, M. (2007) Variability in the collective behaviour of England fans at Euro2004: public order policing, social identity, intergroup dynamics and social change. European Journal of Social Psychology. 37, 75-100.
Books
- Reicher, S & Stott, C (2011) Mad Mobs and Englishmen?: Myths and Realities of the 2011 riots. London: Constable and Robinson. ISBN: 978-1-78033-532-2.
- Stott, C. & Pearson, G. (2007) Football Hooliganism, Policing and the War on the English Disease. London, Pennant Books. ISBN 978-1-906015-05-3.
- Drury, J., & Stott, C. (Eds.) (2013). Crowds in the 21st century: Perspectives from contemporary social science. London: Routledge.
Selected Publications
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2019. Enabling an Evidence Based Approach to Policing Football in the UK. Policing (Oxford): a journal of policy and practice. doi> full text>
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2018. The value of Supporter Liaison Officers (SLOs) in fan dialogue, conflict, governance and football crowd management in Sweden. Soccer and Society. doi> full text>
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Policing football crowds in Sweden. Journal of Scandinavian Studies in Criminology and Crime Prevention. full text>
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The Social Psychological Processes of ‘Procedural Justice’: Concepts, Critiques and Opportunities. Criminology and Criminal Justice. doi> full text>
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2018. The evolving normative dimensions of "riot': Towards an elaborated social identity explanation. EUROPEAN JOURNAL OF SOCIAL PSYCHOLOGY, vol. 48(6), 834-849. link> doi> full text>
Full Publications List show
Books
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2015. Crowds in the 21st Century Perspectives from Contemporary Social Science. Routledge.
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2011. Mad Mobs and Englishmen? Myths and realities of the 2011 riots. Hachette UK.
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2007. Football Hooliganism, Policing and the War on the English Disease. Pennant Books.
Journal Articles
-
2019. Enabling an Evidence Based Approach to Policing Football in the UK. Policing (Oxford): a journal of policy and practice. doi> full text>
-
2018. The value of Supporter Liaison Officers (SLOs) in fan dialogue, conflict, governance and football crowd management in Sweden. Soccer and Society. doi> full text>
-
Policing football crowds in Sweden. Journal of Scandinavian Studies in Criminology and Crime Prevention. full text>
-
The Social Psychological Processes of ‘Procedural Justice’: Concepts, Critiques and Opportunities. Criminology and Criminal Justice. doi> full text>
-
2018. The evolving normative dimensions of "riot': Towards an elaborated social identity explanation. EUROPEAN JOURNAL OF SOCIAL PSYCHOLOGY, vol. 48(6), 834-849. link> doi> full text>
-
2017. Contemporary understanding of riots: Classical crowd psychology, ideology and the social identity approach. Public Underst Sci, vol. 26(1), 2-14. link> doi> full text>
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2018. When is policing fair? Groups, identity and judgements of the procedural justice of coercive crowd policing. POLICING & SOCIETY, vol. 28(6), 647-664. link> doi> full text>
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2017. ON THE ROLE OF A SOCIAL IDENTITY ANALYSIS IN ARTICULATING STRUCTURE AND COLLECTIVE ACTION: THE 2011 RIOTS IN TOTTENHAM AND HACKNEY. BRITISH JOURNAL OF CRIMINOLOGY, vol. 57(4), 964-981. link> doi> full text>
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2016. Policing football 'risk'? A participant action research case study of a liaison based approach to 'public order'. Policing and Society: an international journal of research and policy. doi>
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2015. Managing to avert disaster: explaining collective resilience at an outdoor music event. European Journal of Social Psychology, vol. 45(4), 533-547. doi>
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2013. Psychological disaster myths in the perception and management of mass emergencies. Journal of Applied Social Psychology, vol. 43(11), 2259-2270. doi>
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2013. Crowdedness Mediates the Effect of Social Identification on Positive Emotion in a Crowd: A Survey of Two Crowd Events. PLoS One. doi> full text>
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2013. Advances in Liaison Based Public Order Policing in England: Human Rights and Negotiating the Management of Protest?. Policing (Oxford): a journal of policy and practice. doi>
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2013. Representing crowd behaviour in emergency planning guidance: 'mass panic' or collective resilience?. Resilience: International Policies, Practices and Discources, vol. 1(1), 18-37. doi>
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2012. Post G20: The Challenge of Change, Implementing Evidence-based Public Order Policing. Journal of Investigative Psychology and Offender Profiling, vol. 9(2), 174-183. doi>
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2012. Dialogue Police, Decision Making, and the Management of Public Order During Protest Crowd Events. Journal of Investigative Psychology and Offender Profiling, vol. 9(2), 111-125. doi>
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2011. Contextualising the crowd in contemporary social science. Contemporary Social Science: Journal of the Academy of Social Sciences, vol. 6(3), 275-288. doi>
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2011. Keeping the Peace. The British Journal of Criminology: an international review of crime and society, vol. 52(2), 381-399. doi>
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2011. Event Policing - Dialogue in the policing of mass events in Denmark. CEPOL European Police Science and Research Bulletin.
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2010. The role of crowd theory in determining the use of force in public order policing. Policing and Society: an international journal of research and policy, vol. 20(2), 223-236. doi>
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2010. Crowd psychology, public order police training and the policing of football crowds. Policing: an international journal of police strategies and management, vol. 33(2), 218-235. doi>
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2008. Policing football crowds in England and Wales: a model of 'good practice'?. Policing and Society: an international journal of research and policy, vol. 18(3). doi>
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2008. Tackling football hooliganism: A quantitative study of public order, policing and crowd psychology. Psychology, Public Policy and Law, vol. 14(2), 115-141. doi>
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2007. Knowledge-based public order policing: Principles and Practice. Policing (Oxford): a journal of policy and practice, vol. 1(4), 403-415. doi>
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2006. Football banning orders, proportionality and public order policing. The Howard Journal of Criminal Justice, vol. 45(3), 241-254. doi>
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2006. Variability in the collective behaviour of England fans at Euro2004: 'Hooliganism', public order policing and social change. European Journal of Social Psychology, vol. 37(1), 75-100. doi>
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2004. An integrated approach to crowd psychology and public order policing. Policing: an international journal of police strategies and management. doi>
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Disorderly conduct: hooligans, identity and intergroup dynamics. Contemporary Issues, vol. 85, 78-83.
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2004. 'Disorderly' conduct: social psychology and the control of football 'hooliganism' at Euro2004. The Psychologist, vol. 17, 318-319.
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2004. The importance of social structure and social interaction in stereotype consensus and content: is the whole greater than the sum of its parts?. European Journal of Social Psychology, vol. 34(1), 11-23. doi>
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2003. The role of police perceptions and practices in the development of public disorder. Journal of Applied Social Psychology, vol. 33(7), 1480-1500. doi>
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2003. Police expectations and the control of English soccer fans at Euro 2000. Policing: an international journal of police strategies and management, vol. 26(4), 640-655. doi>
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2010. Transforming the boundaries of collective identity: from the local anti-road campaign to global resistance?. Social Movement Studies: journal of social, cultural and political protest, vol. 2(2), 191-212. doi>
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2001. 'Hooligans' abroad? Inter-group dynamics, social identity and participation on collective 'disorder' at the 1998 World Cup Finals. British Journal of Social Psychology, vol. 40(3), 359-384. doi>
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2011. Bias as a Research Strategy in Participant Observation: The Case of Intergroup Conflict. Field Methods, vol. 13(1), 47-67. doi>
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2000. Crowds, context and identity: Dynamic categorization processes in the poll tax riot. Human Relations, vol. 53(2), 247-273.
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1998. Crowd action as intergroup process: introducing the police perspective. European Journal of Social Psychology, vol. 28(4), 509-529. doi>
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1998. How conflict escalates: The Inter-Group Dynamics of Collective Football Crowd 'Violence'. Sociology, vol. 32(2), 353-377. doi>
Chapters
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2015. Getting over the shock of Milgram: To understand 'Obedience' is to move beyond mere replication. In Stanley Milgram's Obedience Paradigm for 2014.
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2014. Policing international football tournaments and the cross-cultural relevance of the social identity approach to crowd behaviour. In Policing Major Events Perspectives from Around the World. CRC Press.
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2014. Policing Football Hooliganism: Crowds, Context and Identity. In Football Hooliganism, Fan Behaviour and Crime: Contemporary Issues. Macmillan.
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2013. From Sir Robert Peel to PLTs: adapting to liaison based public order policing in England and Wales. In The future of policing: papers prepared for the Steven Independent Commission into the Future of Policing in England and Wales. Routledge.
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2012. From prejudice to collective action. In Beyond Prejudice: Extending the Social Psychology of Conflict, Inequality and Social Change. Cambridge University Press.
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2012. The psychology of collective action: crowds and change. In Culture and Social Change. Information Age Publishing.
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2011. Crowd dynamics and public order policing. In Preventing Crowd Violence. Rienner.
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2007. Becoming the subjects of history: an outline of the psychology of crowds. In The Street as Stage: Protest Marches and Public Rallies Since the Nineteenth Century. Oxford University Press.
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2003. A model of crowd prototypes and crowd leadership. In Leadership in Social Movements. MMU Press.
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1999. The intergroup dynamics of empowerment: A social identity model. In Transforming Politics: Power and Resistance. Macmillan.
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1998. The inter-group dynamics of crowd events. In Alternative futures and popular protest IV. MMU Press.
