BOUNCERS: VIOLENCE AND GOVERNANCE IN THE NIGHT-TIME ECONOMY

Bouncers: Violence and Governance in the Night Time Economy

Bouncers: Violence and Governance in the night-time economy

This book is the first attempt to understand Britain's night time economy, the violence that pervades it, and the bouncers whose job it is to control it. Using ethnography, extensive interviews and participant observation with all the key players, this controversial book charts the appearance of the bouncer as one of the most graphic symbols in the iconography of post industrial Britain (Berns, 2003, 323)

The author has used qualitative research method for all the research done in the book

Research design

Qualitative research or qualitative methodology is a method of investigation used primarily in social science based on methodological cuts that are based on theoretical principles, such as phenomenology, hermeneutics, the social interaction using data collection methods that are qualitative, with purpose of exploring the social relations and describing reality as experienced correspondents. Qualitative research requires a deep understanding of human behaviour and the reasons that govern it. Unlike quantitative research, qualitative research seeks to explain the reasons for the different aspects of such behaviour. In other words, it investigates why and how a decision was made, in contrast to quantitative research which aims to answer the questions such as what, where, and when. Qualitative research is based on small sampling; this is the observation of small population groups, such as classrooms, etc (Pridemore, 2004, 1034).

Types of qualitative research

Participatory Research

It is an activity that combines the way of linking the research and actions in a field selected by the researcher, with the participation of research subjects. The ultimate goal of this research is the search for changes in the community or population to improve living conditions (Chatterton, 2003, 56).

Action Research

It has similarities with the participatory research. One of the attempts to summarize the relationship of identity needed to build a theory to be effective as a guide for action and scientific output, which is closely linked to science for the transformation and social liberation. It has a more striking for research related to education called diagnostic evaluation criteria (Chatterton, 2003, 56).

Ethnographic Research

This type of qualitative research studies the facts as they occur in the context, historical and educational processes, cultural changes, functions and roles of members of a particular community. It is characterized by the use of observation, whether participating or not. In any of these options involves recording observations, as far as possible, what happens in the place being studied, using instruments to complement the information obtained by observation (Chatterton, 2003, 56).

Hobbs is no doubt the most penetrating and insightful criminological ethnographer of Britain, and he uses his skills to provide a tremendously useful service. His book consists of the thrills of voyeuristic participation in a world of almost untrammelled opportunities for wild pleasure, with the frisson of realisation that robberies and burglaries are the price we pay as victims. This book communicates a fascinating if disturbing sense of the complex, disorganized lives of those in ...