Policing Nightlife: Security, Transgression and Urban Order

Nightlife is a place of both real and imagined risk, and this book explores Sydneys contemporary night-time economy as the product of an intersection of local and global transformations. Policing Nightlife focuses on the historical and social conditions, cultural meanings, and regulatory controls that have shaped public and private forms of policing and security in contemporary urban nightlife. It explores the effectiveness of policies governing policing and private security in the night-time economy in the context of media, political, and public debates about regulation and the gendered and highly masculine aspects of much of this work.

Format: Paperback / softback
Length: 224 pages
Publication date: 29 April 2022
Publisher: Taylor & Francis Ltd

Nightlife is a realm of both tangible and imagined peril, a "frontier" (Melbin 1978) where apparent freedom and transgression are intricately intertwined, and where the regulation of leisure and collective intoxication has spread across an expanding network of state and private actors. This book delves into Sydney's contemporary nighttime economy as the outcome of a convergence of local and global transformations, as policing increasingly incorporates "private personnel empowered to regulate 'public drinking and nightlife."

Policing Nightlife examines the historical and social contexts, cultural interpretations, and regulatory frameworks that have shaped both public and private modes of policing and security in contemporary urban nightlife. In doing so, it casts a broader light on global shifts in the nature of contemporary policing and how aspects of neoliberalism and the ideal of the '24-hour city' have influenced policing, security, and nighttime leisure. Drawing from a decade of extensive research and in-depth interviews with police officers and door staff engaged in nightlife environments, the book explores the efficacy of policies governing policing and private security within the nighttime economy in the context of media, political, and public discussions about regulation, as well as the gendered and highly masculine dimensions of much of this work.

An accessible and engaging read, this book will captivate students and scholars of criminology, policing, sociology, and those intrigued by understanding the ongoing debates surrounding security, policing, and contemporary urban nightlife.

Weight: 410g
Dimension: 234 x 156 (mm)
ISBN-13: 9780367513665