Abstract
This paper analyzes the official response to graffiti writing in New York City throughout the 1990s and into the 21st century. Drawing from a variety of documents, such as newspaper articles, political press releases, internal memos and government reports, I show that the city’s reaction to graffiti constitutes a moral panic and that the significance of this response can be discerned when interpreted in the context of theoretical insights developed by urban sociologists. On this basis, I argue that moral panics, or at least a sub-set of panics, may be central to negotiating the social conflict that accompanies the ways in which (urban) space will be put to use.
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Notes
Exact and comprehensive figures for the amount of money spent on anti-graffiti initiatives are difficult to ascertain. In New York City, approximately 20 city agencies currently play a role in combating graffiti, each performing specific tasks, and therefore spending different sums of money. Based on my documents, I would estimate that anti-graffiti initiatives cost the city approximately 5 to 10 million dollars a year.
Hall et al. (1978, pp. 223–227; 1976, pp. 75–79) have helped to clarify these aspects of a moral panic by speaking of signification spirals, which rely on the three interrelated processes of convergence, thresholds and escalation. Convergence is relatively straightforward and involves the drawing of parallels between distinct activities. Hall et al. point out that the meaning of any given convergence is always crystallized against a backdrop of thresholds of social tolerance ranging from the “permissive” to the “extremely violent.” For example, erroneously linking “student political protest” to “hooliganism” or “violence” pushes a legitimate activity (political protest) into the realm of criminality (violence), thereby making it appear “unacceptable.” Convergence and the use of thresholds combine to escalate the sense of threat that an otherwise relatively benign practice poses to society. Having made a practice appear more threatening or criminal than it actually is, escalation creates for agents of social control the legitimacy presupposed in the exercise of repressive measures. See also Thompson (1998) for the significance of signification spirals.
For example, in the late summer of 2005, Marc Ecko, a fashion designer known for embracing the aesthetics associated with graffiti writing culture, acquired permission from community leaders in Chelsea, Manhattan, to host a daylong public event. Featuring mock subway cars as canvasses to be painted during the day, the purpose of the event was to showcase the talents of approximately 20 renowned graffiti artists from New York City. A spike in media reporting accompanied this incident, especially in light of the fact that the city tried to have Ecko’s permit for the event rescinded. In turn, Ecko, citing First Amendment rights, successfully defeated the city in court.
The decision to penalize property owners should also be understood as an example of the extension of hostility towards those who do not write graffiti but have come to be seen as somehow responsible for its presence. Along with Mayor Giuliani’s policing of store owners who sell spray paint, I have discussed Mayor Bloomberg’s attempt to punish property owners who fail to remove graffiti from their property in detail elsewhere (Kramer 2009).
It is worth pointing out that Goode and Ben-Yehuda provide a detailed account of four measures that, if either is satisfied, determine disproportionality. The first and second measures are “exaggerated figures” and “fabricated figures.” Whereas the former measure refers to exaggerating the scope of a problem, either in terms of the number of people involved in the troubling activity or the harm it causes, the latter measure assesses the extent to which the figures used to support a moral panic are actually based on empirical research. The other two measures are relational. On the one hand, we need to test for the “over-representation” of an issue. In such cases, an issue will become the subject of intense debate while another issue that is of far more significance by empirically verifiable standards will be neglected. On the other hand, we may test for changes over time in the ways in which an issue is debated. For example, where an activity remains consistent but public interest in the activity intensifies and wanes over time, that is, when concern over a certain behavior is incongruent with actual patterns in behavior, the criterion of disproportionality has been met. As will become clear, I am establishing disproportion primarily in the first sense identified. That is, the response to graffiti constitutes a disproportionate reaction insofar as the empirical evidence concerning the harm caused by graffiti has been, to put it politely in my view, exaggerated.
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Acknowledgements
I would especially like to thank Javier Auyero and Lauren Joseph at Qualitative Sociology. I would also like to thank the four anonymous reviewers who provided valuable feedback and constructive criticism on an earlier version of this article. I would also like to acknowledge Neera Jain for all of her support.
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Kramer, R. Moral Panics and Urban Growth Machines: Official Reactions to Graffiti in New York City, 1990–2005. Qual Sociol 33, 297–311 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11133-010-9154-0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11133-010-9154-0