nineteen - Asocial not anti-social: the ‘Respect Agenda’ and the ‘therapeutic me’

Summary

The demand for law and order, which at first sight appears to attempt a restoration of moral standards, actually acknowledges and acquiesces in their collapse. Law and order comes to be seen as the only effective deterrent in a society that no longer knows the difference between right and wrong. (Lasch, 1977: 187)

Introduction

The promotion of respect in society, like the concern about anti-social behaviour, engages with issues that on the one hand are relatively small or insignificant – dropping litter or not saying ‘thank you’, for example. And yet on the other hand these issues are often felt to be significant both in themselves and also through their association with major social problems such as the ‘breakdown of communities’. The ‘ASBO agenda’ has been criticised for its authoritarian dynamic – especially by those on the left. However, even for critics there appears to be an uncertainty about the nature of behaviour today and a certain sense that there are some real problems to be addressed. Some, for example, believe that we are living in a ‘culture of greed’ – a belief that raises questions not only about capitalism and consumerism, but also about the very nature of relationships between people – indeed about the nature of people themselves.

This chapter argues that there are some new problems to address today, but that the problem we face is ultimately not one of an anti-social society but of an asocial society. Seen in this way, the myopic focus on anti-social behaviour can be seen not only as a diversion but as something that actually reinforces the asocial nature of society itself.

The problem

Until the 1990s the term ‘anti-social behaviour’ had scarcely any public or political existence (although see the discussion in Squires and Stephen, 2005: chapters 2 and 3). In the last 15 years the awareness and construction of this social problem has grown and grown, and it is now understood to be a, if not the, problem facing society. So seriously does the government take this problem that immediately following the 2005 general election victory, Prime Minister Tony Blair launched the ‘Respect Agenda’ – an agenda that extends the politics of behaviour further still into the realms of politeness and manners.