If looting was to break out again in Manchester tonight would I join in? As much as I need a microwave and fancy some new trainers, no I would not. Is this because I am a morally superior person to the (mostly) kids that have been rioting? No. It is because violence and criminal damage against buildings is not part of my social reality. The idea is totally abnormal to me. Violence has no strategically rational role in my life.  The question to address then is under what circumstances does violence enter a person’s social reality?

English riots: rejecting a moral debate – the rationality of violence