#80 (Cliff Stott)

Reducing Crime

Jerry Ratcliffe talks to Professor Cliff Stott, a distinguished social psychologist specializing in crowd behavior, group identity, and public order policing. Stott discusses his background and early life experiences, and how this led him to study crowd psychology and develop the Elaborated Social Identity Model as an alternative to outdated mob psychology theories. Stott's work aims to debunk the myth that crowds inherently lose control and become irrational, arguing instead that crowd behavior is guided by shared social identities and norms. Instead, indiscriminate use of force by police can escalate crowd conflicts, by creating a shared identity of opposition to the police.