Non-Riotous Behaviour
Ask not why people riot, but why they obey the law. Jamie Whyte examines civil obedience.
Analysis · BBC Radio 4
Audio is streamed directly from the publisher (open.live.bbc.co.uk) as published in their RSS feed. Play Podcasts does not host this file. Rights-holders can request removal through the copyright & takedown page.
Show Notes
This summer's riots provoked much speculation about the factors which prompted so many people to break the law. But philosopher-turned-commentator Jamie Whyte is more interested in understanding why this sort of thing doesn't happen more often. Is it fear of arrest or is it morality that makes most of the people abide by the law for most of the time? In search of the causes of mass civil obedience, Jamie Whyte speaks to leading experts in the fields of philosophy, psychology and anthropology.
Contributors include: Roger Scruton, philosopher and writer Quentin Skinner, professor of the humanities & expert on modern political thought Tim Harford, the Financial Times Undercover Economist and presenter of More or Less on Radio 4 George Klosko, political philosopher Alex Bentley, anthropologist Carol Hedderman, criminologist
Producer: Simon Coates.