Crowds and Identities: John Drury's Research Group

By John Drury. There is evidence that recent events in Charlottesville, Virginia, which saw a mass mobilization of white supremacists, Ku Klux Klan, and Nazis have served to embolden and strengthen these groups, who are now ‘bursting with confidence’. The…

By Evangelos Ntontis. Recently, the small village of Coverack in Cornwall was hit by a flash flood which resulted in damaged properties and possessions, closed roads, disruption, and required the rescue of several people. This was not a one-off event.…

By Khalifah Alfadhli. Every year on June 20th (World Refugee Day), UNHCR updates their report on “global trends of forced displacement”. This shows how, in one year (2014/2015), five million people lost their homes  and joined the diaspora nation that reached…

By Sara Vestergren. Since Donald Trump became the president-elect last week, people in the USA have taken to the streets, demonstrating for days to show their discontent, possibly even attempting to change society. The aim for most protests and collective…

By Evangelos Ntontis. As a PhD student at the School of Psychology of Sussex University, I recently had the honour of winning the 2016 PhD poster conference. Of course winning is accompanied with writing a blog for the School’s website,…

By John Drury. I was asked today to appear on BBC Radio to comment on a report from the Association of British Commuters which described the recent experiences of passengers on Southern Rail trains and platforms. These testimonies painted a…

By Anne Templeton and Sara Vestergren. At the Conservative Party conference, in a bid to persuade employers to prioritise hiring British workers, Home Secretary Amber Rudd advised that changes were needed to stop non-British citizens from potentially “taking jobs that…

By Sara Vestergren and Anne Templeton. The phenomenon of Pokémon GO has caused crowds to congregate in areas clutching their phones and shouting about rare Pokémon. Pokémon GO players’ behaviour has been compared to that of zombies, which for those…

Social media users and news sources have reported a spate of racist and xenophobic incidents in the UK in the days immediately following the EU referendum result. These include anti-Polish graffiti, people being told ‘go back to your country’ in…

تناولت مقالة حديثة حول تصويت خروج بريطانيا من الاتحاد الأوربي خوف الحكومة أن يؤدي هذا إلى “عدوى الاستفتاء “referendum contagion“. يشير مصطلح “العدوى” هنا ليس فقط إلى إنتشار السلوك بسرعة وإنما أيضا إلى أن الانتشار غير مرغوب ولا يمكن التحكم…